Both Mercedes drivers will drop one place on the grid for Formula 1's Bahrain Grand Prix because of a team error during a red flag in qualifying.
Russell and Antonelli initially qualified second and fourth for the Bahrain GP - comfortably marking the team's best qualifying of the 2025 season so far.
But they'll now start from third and fifth instead due to an error during the early stages of Q2.
Q2 was red flagged for Esteban Ocon's huge crash on the outside of Turn 3, leading to a delay while his damaged Haas was recovered.
An estimated restart time for the session was issued, at which point Mercedes sent Russell and Antonelli to the end of the pitlane.
But that's not allowed as drivers are only supposed to enter the fast lane of the pitlane when a confirmed restart time has been issued.
The FIA's international sporting code states: "If the free practice session or qualifying session is suspended, cars may only enter the fast lane after the restart time is confirmed via the official messaging system."
Mercedes' defence
Mercedes sent its head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin to the stewards to explain, with sporting director Ron Meadows (above) absent from this weekend's race for his son's wedding.
"[Shovlin] in evidence stated that he gave the instruction for the cars to be released, in error, having misinterpreted the message posted on page three of the timing screen, 'estimated restart time' to be a message advising the actual restart time," the stewards reported.
"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."
Tim Malyon, the FIA's single seater sporting director, argued that such a move could be done for sporting advantage as it could allow a team to perform its run plan whereas other teams might not be able to.
The stewards agreed with this assessment and with Malyon's argument that a sporting penalty was necessary rather than a fine, to act as a deterrent for teams from releasing their cars when the estimated start time is issued.
The stewards accepted the breach was unintentional and a genuine mistake for which Shovlin apologised.
But they still decided to impose a one-place grid penalty for both drivers and cautioned that future offences in different circumstances could "entail a more severe sporting penalty".
Nico Hulkenberg clocked this when Sauber released him once the official restart time had been given and he saw the Mercedes duo already parked at the end of the pitlane.
"Mercedes is dodgy," he told his team during Q2, saying after the session, "I think there’s a rule now that you’re not supposed to go to the end of pitlane and queue until the restart time is published or something. It was just an estimate and they went early. That was it, nothing major".
The penalties promote Charles Leclerc's Ferrari onto the front row alongside Oscar Piastri's McLaren, and they boost Pierre Gasly's Alpine from fifth to fourth.
