Antonelli penalised for yellow flag breach
Kimi Antonelli, the current leader in the F1 championship, has been issued a three-place grid penalty for the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix. This decision follows a rule violation during Saturday’s qualifying session at the Hungaroring. The penalty was imposed after an investigation revealed that Antonelli failed to adequately slow down for yellow flags that were displayed during Max Verstappen’s spin in Q3.
The stewards’ investigation found that Antonelli breached Appendix H, Article 2.5.5 b) of the International Sporting Code and B1.8.4a of the FIA F1 Regulations. This incident means Antonelli will start Sunday’s race from a lower position on the grid, adding a challenge to his efforts to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
Antonelli had initially qualified fourth fastest. He had also provisionally moved up a spot on the grid due to a separate three-place penalty given to Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton’s penalty was for impeding McLaren driver Oscar Piastri at the conclusion of Q3. However, with his own penalty, Antonelli will now drop to P7 for the race.
Stewards’ decision and impact on grid
The stewards’ document detailed their findings, stating that Antonelli confirmed he lifted off the throttle earlier than his previous push lap upon seeing the yellow flag and light panel. Telemetry data verified this action. However, the reduction in speed was brief, and the car’s speed when passing the incident site involving Verstappen was slightly higher than on his previous push lap.
The mini sector time for Antonelli was only 0.03 seconds slower than his best time for that mini sector. Although he was 14 km/h slower entering the yellow flag sector because he had lifted 16 metres earlier, he was 3 km/h faster when passing the incident site due to less application of the brakes into the corner. FIA representatives noted that the speed reduction in the mini sector was less than 1%.
The stewards considered this incident distinct from others that have resulted in no further action. They highlighted that, unlike those cases, there was no significant speed difference through the mini sector compared to the driver’s previous fastest time under similar conditions. While the recommended penalty for this offence, according to penalty guidelines, is a five-grid position drop, a lower penalty was applied. This was in mitigation, acknowledging that the driver did reduce speed, albeit insufficiently and unsustained. Additionally, the driver had limited time and distance to react.
In a separate qualifying incident, Antonelli also received a warning from the stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly during an in-lap.
The revised starting grid for the Hungarian Grand Prix now sees Lando Norris of McLaren in pole position, followed by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, and Oscar Piastri of McLaren in third. Max Verstappen of Red Bull is in fourth, with Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari in fifth, and George Russell of Mercedes in sixth. Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes will start from seventh place, ahead of Isack Hadjar of Red Bull in eighth, Arvid Lindblad of Racing Bulls in ninth, and Nico Hulkenberg of Audi in tenth.
Further down the grid, Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls is in eleventh, followed by Pierre Gasly of Alpine in twelfth, and Franco Colapinto of Alpine in thirteenth. Gabriel Bortoleto of Audi will start fourteenth, with Esteban Ocon of Haas in fifteenth, and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin in sixteenth. Ollie Bearman of Haas is in seventeenth, Carlos Sainz of Williams in eighteenth, and Alex Albon of Williams in nineteenth. Lance Stroll of Aston Martin is in twentieth, Valtteri Bottas of Cadillac in twenty-first, and Sergio Perez of Cadillac in twenty-second.
The penalties issued to both Antonelli and Hamilton have significantly altered the starting positions for Sunday’s race, setting the stage for a potentially dynamic event.
Source: formula1.com
Priya Nair
Sports Reporter
