There’s been a shake-up on the Bahrain GP starting grid. Mercedes has paid the price for a significant team error, resulting in one-place grid penalties for both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. During the Q2 red flag caused by Esteban Ocon’s crash, the team sent both drivers out of the garage before race control had given the official restart signal.

As a result, Charles Leclerc moves up to the front row and will now start second alongside Oscar Piastri. Pierre Gasly is promoted to fourth, while Russell and Antonelli are bumped down to third and fifth respectively.

The Official Statements

The FIA stewards released official statements regarding the penalties, explaining the situation in detail.

In both statements, the blame is placed squarely on Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin:

“He admitted to giving the incorrect instruction to send the cars back out. He misinterpreted the message ‘Estimated Restart’ as the actual restart time. Shovlin argued that no sporting advantage was gained in this case and that teams had ample time to execute their race plans. It was also noted that Mercedes Sporting Director Ron Meadows was not present at the event and that he would normally be involved in such decisions.”

The FIA’s Head of Single-Seaters emphasized that such an action could potentially give a sporting advantage by allowing a team to continue their planned run while others might not be able to do the same.

“The stewards agree with this assessment, particularly given how little time remained in the session,” the statement read.

The FIA Sporting Director advocated for a sporting penalty rather than a financial fine, warning that otherwise, teams might be tempted in the future to send cars out as soon as the estimated restart time is announced.

“The stewards concur with this view. Shovlin suggested a non-sporting penalty if the incident would not be considered a precedent, but also acknowledged that if a sporting penalty were to be applied, it should be a mitigated one.”

Ultimately, the stewards ruled that while the infraction was unintentional and the result of a clear team error – for which Shovlin apologized – it still warranted a sporting penalty.

“We have decided to issue a one-place grid penalty. A similar infraction in different circumstances could result in a harsher sporting penalty in the future.”