Mercedes will not contest Kimi Antonelli’s five-second penalty in the British Grand Prix as the Formula 1 championship leader finished outside the points.
At Silverstone, Antonelli was running second, with a significant tyre life advantage on leader Charles Leclerc, when the Italian started experiencing severe handling issues with his Mercedes W17.
The team called Antonelli in twice to try and remedy the issue, which was eventually diagnosed as a broken front-left wheel shield.
Unable to do anything about the problem, Antonelli persisted but dropped out of contention to ninth place, which is the position he crossed the finish line in under a late safety car.
But because Antonelli had exceeded track limits several times, the stewards handed him a five-second time penalty which dropped him down to 16th.
Speaking to the media shortly after the race, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff suggested the team would be looking into trying to get Antonelli’s penalty rescinded because of the mitigating factor of car damage.
“We’re definitely looking at a situation whether we can avoid that penalty for track limits,” Wolff told the media. “At the end of the year, if we’re able to get rid of that penalty, if… these points could be decisive for the championship.
Toto Wolff, Mercedes
Photo by: Anni Graf – Formula 1 via Getty Images
Asked by Autosport if he meant there should be more leniency because of the damage, Wolff replied: “Yeah, I think for the FIA, certainly it’s always difficult to judge. Is the car so damaged that it should actually come in?
“In that case, I think the car was fine. It was just one feature that it was really difficult to turn. So, I hope that they accept that situation, but I don’t know what the outcome will be.”
Autosport has learned Mercedes won’t take the matter further after all. After investigating the issue internally in its post-race debrief, Mercedes has accepted Antonelli’s penalty was justified because of the sheer number of off-track excursions.
Explaining the penalty, the FIA race stewards wrote: “It was evident that Car 12 left the track at Turn 6 on Lap 44 without a justifiable reason. This was the driver’s fourth track limits infringement of the race.
“The Stewards accepted that Car 12 was experiencing a mechanical issue. However, that did not amount to a justifiable reason for leaving the track. In accordance with the Penalty Guidelines, the standard penalty for a fourth track limits infringement during the race is a 5 second time penalty. The Stewards therefore imposed the standard penalty.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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