Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli has been handed a three-place grid drop ahead of the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring.
The 19-year-old had qualified fourth on the grid, with Mercedes beaten by McLaren polesitter Lando Norris and both Ferrari drivers ahead of him.
The penalty was triggered by an incident on Antonelli’s final qualifying run, when he encountered yellow flags at the final corner of the circuit.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had spun and was stationary in the runoff area, prompting the yellow flag deployment that Antonelli was deemed to have insufficiently respected.
Despite the yellow flags, Antonelli still improved his final sector time, which drew the attention of the stewards and prompted a formal investigation.
The stewards concluded that Antonelli had lifted by only the tiniest amount and was actually faster through the corner compared to his previous push lap.
“The driver of Car 12 stated that on seeing the yellow flag and light panel, he lifted off the throttle earlier than his previous push lap,” the stewards wrote in their verdict. “This was verified by the telemetry. However the reduction in speed occurred for a very short period, and in fact the car’s speed when passing the scene of the incident involving Car 3, was slightly higher than that on the previous push lap.”
The stewards noted that the mini sector time was only 0.03 seconds slower than his best time for that sector, and the speed reduction across the entire mini sector was less than 1%.
“The Stewards considered this incident to be different to other incidents that have resulted in no further action, because unlike those cases, there was no significant speed delta through the mini sector compared to the driver’s previous fastest time under similar circumstances,” the stewards added.
Antonelli could have received a five-place grid drop under the FIA’s penalty guidelines, but the stewards opted for a reduced punishment given the mitigating circumstances.
“However in mitigation of penalty, we considered that the driver did make a reduction in speed, albeit, in our determination, an insufficient and unsustained one. Further, the driver had limited time and distance to react. Hence a lower penalty is applied,” the stewards explained.
The championship leader also received a penalty point on his licence as part of the sanction, adding further consequence to the qualifying infringement.
Antonelli was additionally handed a warning for driving too slowly and exceeding minimum delta times on his in-lap following his final qualifying attempt.
The Italian now drops to seventh on the grid, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton also receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri in Turn 1 during qualifying.
Piastri moves up to third on the grid as a result of the penalties, with Verstappen joining the Australian on the second row for Sunday’s race.