Antonelli avoids punishment for alleged Norris impeding in Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying

Kimi Antonelli will not be punished for allegedly impeding Lando Norris during qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race as Formula 1 stewards deemed "no further action".

The Mercedes driver had just left the pitlane and was caught going slowly on the inside of Turn 1 causing Norris to back off, before reporting to his McLaren team that “I was going to push that lap” during SQ2.

But it then emerged in the steward meeting afterwards that the reigning world champion said he was on a "pushing warm up lap", which means he was not actively seeking to set a meaningful time.

The report added: "Had Car 1 been on a push lap then, given the position of Car 12 on the track, Car 12 would have unnecessarily impeded Car 1. In the light of the clear position taken by the driver of Car 1 that he was not impeded by Car 12 as he was not seeking to set a meaningful lap time, we took no further action."

The on-track incident also made no difference to the outcome for both drivers, as they progressed from the session regardless. Antonelli eventually qualified second behind team-mate George Russell for Saturday’s race, while Norris took third.

After the session, Antonelli said: "Yeah, the pace is very strong. Just didn't put the lap together at the end on the soft. So, yeah, still work to do. But obviously, congrats to George and all to play for tomorrow."

It continues a perfect start to the season for Mercedes, as it also finished 1-2 in both qualifying and the race at last weekend's Melbourne opener where Russell was top on each occasion.

"I'm feeling good in the car," added Antonelli. "So, there obviously is more about details trying to put all together. But yeah, tomorrow we try to have a good start and then try to have a good quali."

Had Antonelli been found guilty then he'd have likely been given a grid drop but as that is not the case, Norris will remain on the second row with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton ahead of both of their team-mates, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc, on the third.