FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) stewards decided not to penalize Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli after an incident involving McLaren’s Lando Norris during SQ2 of the sprint qualifying for the Formula 1 Chinese GP, held this Friday (13) at the Shanghai International Circuit.
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Antonelli allegedly impeded Norris at Turn 1 during the session. However, after analyzing video footage, telemetry, team radio communications, and onboard cameras, the stewards concluded that no penalty was necessary.
In the official document released by the FIA, the stewards recorded that they heard from the Mercedes driver, Norris himself, and team representatives before reaching the verdict. The analysis considered a possible violation of Article B4.1.1 of the FIA Formula 1 Regulations, but the final decision was “no further action.”
According to the report, Norris himself stated that he was not on a fast lap at the time of the episode: “The driver of Car 1 (Lando Norris) told us that he was on a ‘warm-up lap for a push’ and not on a fast lap. In other words, he was not actively attempting to set a meaningful lap time when Car 12 (Kimi Antonelli) exited the pits and entered the track.”
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The stewards also highlighted that, had Norris been on a real fast lap attempt, Antonelli’s position could have characterized unnecessary impeding. “If Car 1 had been on a fast lap, then given the position of Car 12 on the track, Car 12 would have unnecessarily impeded him.”
Still, as Norris stated he was not directly disadvantaged at that moment, the investigation was closed without penalty. “Given the clear position taken by the driver of Car 1 that he was not impeded by Car 12, as he was not attempting to set a meaningful lap time, we take no further action.”
With the decision, Antonelli maintains second position on Saturday’s Sprint grid, a result he had originally achieved in the qualifying session. This also means that Norris, Lewis Hamilton, and Oscar Piastri do not gain positions on the grid.
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