Mercedes has been fined €7,500 for releasing Kimi Antonelli’s car in an unsafe condition.
The Italian was released from his garage during the session with a duct cooling fan still attached on the right side of his car. The fan assembly disconnected from the duct of the car as it negotiated Turn 1, split apart and one section of it bounced off the track onto the gravel at the exit. Another section of the fan assembly dislodged onto the track at Turn 2 and was later struck by the front wing and tyre of Lando Norris’ McLaren causing debris to be strewn over the track, damage to the front wing and the session to be red flagged to remove the debris.
Mercedes explained that an incident in FP3 in which Antonelli had sustained significant damage meant that the division of labour within the team had to be changed to repair the damage within a short time frame. Usually, a separate team member would have responsibility for inserting and removing each fan but the need to address legacy issues from the earlier incident during the session meant that the team member responsible for the fan on that side of the car was occupied on another task and the removal of the fan before the car was released from the garage was missed.
The team (and Antonelli) were unaware that the fan had not been removed until the incident was noted by Race Control.
The Stewards determined that because the Mercedes had left its garage with a piece of equipment still attached, it was released in an unsafe condition and consequently imposed a €7,500 fine.
Earlier in qualifying, which was suspended due to a red flag incident, and while the cars were lined up to leave the pit lane, Antonelli was waiting to blend into the fast lane. He had inched slightly into the fast lane with a very small portion of the front wing in the fast lane. A team member assisted in pushing the car back a little to allow for that part to not hinder the fast lane.
While the car was touched by the team member (to push it back), this did not constitute a breach of Article B1.6.1e which prohibits work being done on the car, which clearly was not the case here. In fact, the team member was taking steps to not hinder the other drivers in the fast lane, which was entirely appropriate in the circumstances.
Consequently, this was not a breach of Article B1.6.1e of the regulations and so the stewards took no further action.
Finally, video evidence showed that, as Pierre Gasly was exiting his garage during qualifying session, a component from the left-front wheel assembly detached and rolled through the fast lane before coming to rest in the inner lane of the pit lane.
An Alpine representative acknowledged the mistake and apologised for the lapse. He explained that a mechanic had inadvertently failed to correctly secure the component during the preparation of the car, which resulted in the part detaching when the car left the garage. He further stated that the team had faced logistical challenges as not all parts had arrived in Melbourne in time, which meant that the team could not fully carry out its usual preparation procedures.
The stewards acknowledged the logistical challenges faced by the team. However, the responsibility for ensuring that a car is released from the garage in a safe condition rests with the competitor.
As a component detached from the left-front wheel assembly when the car exited the garage, the stewards determined that the car was released in an unsafe condition.
Having considered previous decisions for comparable infringements, the stewards concluded that a financial penalty was appropriate and accordingly, imposed a fine of €5,000.