© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
The FIA has fined Mercedes for releasing Kimi Antonelli onto the track in an unsafe condition in Australian Grand Prix Qualifying, but he Italian driver retains his P2!
At the Australian Grand Prix, Mercedes accidentally left the cooling fan on Kimi Antonelli’s car for the start of Q3, which led to the device splitting into two parts when the Italian went through the first chicane.
McLaren’s Lando Norris unfortunately ran over the debris, and then the session was red flagged.
After qualifying, the incident was investigated by the stewards, which put Antonelli’s P2 in jeopardy. Ultimately, the stewards decided to only penalize the team, handing them a €7,500 fine.
“The Team explained that an incident in an earlier session in which Car 12 had sustained significant damage meant that the division of labour within the team had to be changed to repair the damage within a short time frame,” the stewards explained.
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“Usually, a separate team member would have responsibility for inserting and removing each fan but the need to address legacy issues from the earlier incident during the session meant that the team member responsible for the fan on that side of the car was occupied on another task and the removal of the fan before the car was released from the garage was missed.
“The Team (and the Driver) were unaware that the fan had not been removed until the incident was noted by Race Control.
“The Stewards determine that because Car 12 left its garage with a piece of equipment still attached, it was released in an unsafe condition and the Stewards impose a fine on the Competitor accordingly,” the stewards concluded.
