Mercedes enjoyed a strong qualifying session at Bahrain Grampuri on Saturday.
But neither driver will start there.
Both Russell and Antonelli were rated first-place grid penalties for failing to follow the race director's instructions as a result of the decision the team made in the second quarter.
Esteban Ocon crashed early in the second segment of the qualifying round. This was a fierce shunt on the wall of Turn 10, pulling out a red flag. Before the session officially resumed, both Russell and Antonelli were coming out of the garage, lined up in the fast lanes of the pit line waiting for the green flag.
However, the violation was posted a note posted by the race director at the beginning of the week.
Qualifying continued, with both Mercedes drivers moving on to the third quarter and finishing in the top four, but Russell and Antonelli both were summoned to meet the race stewards after the session. At a hearing that they joined by Andrew Shoblin, director of trackside engineering, Shoblin admitted that they had instructed the drivers to leave their respective garages and line up in the pit lane. Shovlin also admitted that he misinterpreted the message on the timing screen and then gave the instructions. As stated in the decision of the race officials:
“Shoblin has proven that he misinterpreted the message posted on page three of the timing screen, and misinterpreted the “estimated reboot time” as a message advised the actual restart time.
Shovlin admitted the mistake, but argued that the decision to incorrectly ensure that both Mercedes drivers line up in PIT lanes did not give them the advantage of the sport as other teams could complete their execution plans on schedule. Race officials also heard from Tim Marillon, FIA's single-seater sports director. He said, “This kind of move could be an advantage of the sport in that it allows teams to implement the rampplan, although other teams may not be able to do so.”
Considering that there were only 11 minutes left in the second quarter when the Ocon crashed, the racer agreed with the claim.
Shoblin then found benefits in the discussion, noting that “the violation is not intentional, it is a real mistake by the team that Shoblin apologised.”
So one grid penalty was passed on to both drivers. Russell currently ranks 5th and 3rd with Antonelli.
You can read the complete decisions for both Documents 33 and 34 drivers. here.
Despite the Pitt's mistake, it's still a strong result for Mercedes.
