Bahrain Grand Prix: Russell, Antonelli Penalized for Pit Lane Infraction

George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli were each handed a one-place grid drop at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, hours after qualifying second and fourth.

Both drivers were penalised after Mercedes sent them out into the fast lane in the pits before qualifying resumed after a red flag stoppage, something prohibited in the regulations on safety grounds.

The verdict lifts Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to second on the grid, and Pierre Gasly to fourth in the Alpine.

Qualifying had been red-flagged after Esteban Ocon crashed his Haas in Q2.

Mercedes later explained it had misread the FIA's "estimated restart time" as the actual restart time.

Speaking after qualifying, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had hoped the drivers would not bare the brunt of the breach.

George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli will start the Bahrain Grand Prix third and fifth.

In their post-qualifying meeting with the stewards, Mercedes representative Andrew Shovlin did argue that the team had simply misread the session restart time and insisted that no sporting advantage had been gained in doing so.

In reply to that, the stewards "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."

The stewards did "accept that the breach was unintentional and a genuine mistake by the team" but said a sporting penalty had to be implemented to ensure teams do not simply start sending their cars out as soon as the estimated re-start time was established by the FIA.

The verdict added that "a similar breach in different circumstances, could entail a more severe sporting penalty, in future."

New Bahrain GP grid, top 10:

Oscar Piastri, Mercedes

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

George Russell, Mercedes

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Lando Norris, McLaren

Max Verstappen, Red Bull

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull