Mercedes Drivers Handed Grid Drop After Pit Lane Infringement in Bahrain

The FIA has penalized Mercedes drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli with a one-place grid drop for the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix, dropping them down to P3 and P5, respectively.

The penalty follows Haas driver Esteban Ocon's crash during Q2, which resulted in a red flag. According to the FIA, the Mercedes cars were released into the pit lane too early.

Mercedes likely operated under the estimated Q2 resumption time instead of waiting for confirmation to resume the session, which resulted in both cars lining up before the race director deemed it safe to continue running.

According to an FIA document, both cars were found guilty of "entering the fast lane in the pit lane before a restart time was confirmed."

The stewards have handed both George and Kimi a one-place grid penalty each for the team’s infringement in Qualifying

George and Kimi will now start the Bahrain GP from P3 and P5 on the grid pic.twitter.com/WDL6JltYYO
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 12, 2025

Mercedes should not be significantly impacted by the punishment, as the track has shown to be advantageous for their car.

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Russell has demonstrated impressive pace throughout the race weekend so far, as has Antonelli, which could enable the drivers to regain their positions quite swiftly.

Antonelli will be behind Pierre Gasly in an Alpine car that should struggle to keep up with a Mercedes. Leclerc will face similar issues with Russell being all over him during the race.

Bahrain will offer significant opportunities for overtaking, and tire wear will also be a factor for all the cars on track, meaning both cars will likely have chances to make their way up.

That Sauber guy had no idea what Mercedes was doing pic.twitter.com/7qAdMrsn14
— Holiness (@F1BigData) April 12, 2025

"The team representative, Mr Shovlin, in evidence stated that he gave the instruction for the cars to be released, in error, having misinterpreted the message posted on page 3 of the Timing Screen, 'estimated re-start time' to be a message advising the actual re-start time," an FIA statement read.

"He argued that there was no sporting advantage gained in this case as there was sufficient time remaining (11 minutes) for other teams to perform their run plans."

"It was also noted that the team's Sporting Director, Mr Meadows, was not present at the event and that normally he would be involved in the release process."

"The FIA Single Seater Sporting Director stated that such a move could be a sporting advantage in that it could enable a team to perform its run plan whereas other teams may not be able to."

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"The Stewards agree with this view particularly where there are only a few minutes
remaining in the session."

"The FIA Sporting Director argued that there needed to be a sporting penalty rather than a team fine, otherwise in future teams would release their cars as soon as the estimated re-start time was published.

"The Stewards agree with this view."

"Mr Shovlin argued that it was possible to give a non sporting penalty if the Stewards declared that it was not to be taken as a precedent but also stated that if a sporting penalty was to be given, it should be mitigated."

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"The Stewards agreed with the view that this breach required a sporting penalty however accept that the breach was unintentional and a genuine mistake by the team for which Mr Shovlin apologised."

"We decided to impose a one position grid penalty."

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