Mercedes F1 star Kimi Antonelli has been handed a punishment verdict from the FIA following an investigation into his actions during proceedings at the Barcelona Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old returned to the track in Catalonia this weekend with a healthy championship lead after picking up his fifth consecutive grand prix victory in Monaco last time out.
He will be hoping to make it six on Sunday, but after a positive start for his team-mate George Russell, it doesn’t appear as if Antonelli’s weekend in Spain will go as smoothly as some of his recent championship rounds have.
During FP3 on Saturday, the Italian grew increasingly frustrated as he watched Russell consistently top the timesheets, hampered by an issue that drivers often face at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya—traffic.
The championship leader could be heard complaining about Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll over the team radio, telling race engineer Peter Bonnington: “Oh my God, Stroll as always,” after coming across the number 18 car on a timed lap.
Antonelli and his Mercedes team representative were then required to report to the stewards at 14:00 local time in relation to the incident, with the stewards investigating the Mercedes star for allegedly driving erratically into Turn 2.
Ahead of qualifying, the FIA then announced that Antonelli had avoided a penalty and instead been reprimanded for driving erratically, hist first reprimand of the session.
The FIA report read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 12 (Kimi Antonelli) and team representatives of Mercedes and Aston Martin and reviewed video, telemetry and in-car video evidence.
“Car 12 was impacted by Car 18 when approaching turn 1. After passing Car 18 the driver of Car 12 applied the brakes in front of Car 18 and prevented the latter from passing. This is deemed driving in an erratic manner.
“The driver admitted during the hearing that he acted out of frustration and apologised for his action.”
