The two Mercedes drivers and Williams’ Carlos Sainz escaped possible sanctions following an investigation by the stewards after qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Mercedes, in particular, was summoned to a hearing by the stewards for both of its cars, as it failed to submit the documents accompanying the car set-up for qualifying on time. The deadline for submitting them was before 20:00 local time, as the qualifying process began at that time.
According to the relevant article of the F1 racing regulations, it is stated that: “Each competitor must provide the Technical Delegation with a document on the suspension set-up for both of its cars, before each of them leaves the pitlane for the first time during sprint qualifying and qualifying”.
The stewards did not receive the specific documents from the Silver Arrows in time. At its hearing, however, Mercedes was able to prove that these had been sent on time by its own side.
“The stewards heard what the team representative had to say about the #63 car (George Russell),” the stewards’ report states, while in the case of Antonelli there was a relevant, corresponding document.
“Although the FIA did not receive the document electronically by the specified time, the team was able to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the stewards, that copies of the relevant emails with the document existed and had been sent to the appropriate FIA department by the deadline. However, due to an IT problem, they were not received in the appropriate time.”
As a result, the stewards did not proceed with any sanction towards the two W16s. Thus, Russell will start tomorrow 4th and Antonelli 17th, in a mixed process for the Brackley team.
Williams and Sainz also suffered the same fate, although they were called for racing reasons. The Spaniard was investigated for possible obstruction of Lance Stroll, after his unsafe re-entry onto the track.
In Q1, specifically at Turn 5, Sainz went off the track, and appeared to have come back in front of Stroll, with the Canadian making an evasive move. The stewards reviewed it after the end of the rainy procedure on the Las Vegas Strip.
However, the Aston Martin representative, who was called to the stewards on behalf of his driver, stated that Stroll did not consider it an “unsafe move” on Sainz’s part, so no further action was needed in this incident.
This means Sainz will start tomorrow from a promising 3rd place, even looking at a possible podium. In that case, it will be the Spaniard’s second with his new team, having also finished 3rd in Baku earlier in the season.
