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Mercedes believe Andrea Kimi Antonelli was unfortunate to receive a grid penalty for his yellow flag infringement in qualifying last weekend.
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The world champion received a three-place grid drop for failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags. The stewards pointed out Antonelli’s time through the relevant mini-sector rose by just 0.03 seconds compared to “his best time for that mini-sector.”
However Mercedes’ deputy technical director Simone Resta said Antonelli had lost time in that mini-sector compared to other laps.
“The benchmark lap being used for comparison wasn’t actually an ideal lap,” said Resta in a video released by the team. “In that particular sector, the reference wasn’t representative of Kimi’s true pace.
“That made the situation more difficult because even after lifting, he was effectively being compared against a slower-than-optimal sector.”
The stewards accepted Antonelli had lifted the throttle 16 metres earlier and reduced his speed by 14kph in response to the single yellow flag. They ruled this was “insufficient”.
A similar situation occured earlier in the season in Austria where both Mercedes drivers passed single yellow flags on their final qualifying laps. Antonelli slowed down significantly and abandoned his lap, while George Russell lifted the throttle then resumed his lap and took pole position.
Resta said Antonelli had tried to back off but keep going in Hungary. “Kimi pointed out afterwards that if you compared the sector to FP3, when the car was heavier on fuel and therefore naturally slower, he was still quicker despite lifting,” he said.
“In some ways it was a perfect storm. He did react, but because of the reference lap being used, the reduction wasn’t enough to satisfy the requirement.”
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