Kimi Antonelli was given a five-second time penalty at the chequered flag in Melbourne, before a successful petition from Mercedes to overturn it.

Antonelli finished fourth on the road in what was a stellar debut race in Formula 1, before being demoted to fifth at the chequered flag due to a five-second time penalty that meant he was classified behind Williams’ Alex Albon.

Why was Kimi Antonelli penalised in the first place?

Antonelli’s final pitstop in Australia drew the attention of the stewards, with the Mercedes man having been allegedly released into the path of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg.

According to the stewards, who reviewed video and “in-car video evidence”, Hulkenberg had to brake and swerve to avoid hitting Antonelli. He was given a five-second time penalty for the incident, which would be added to his race time at the finish line.

Antonelli went on to cross the line in fourth place behind teammate George Russell, dropping to fifth when his five-second time penalty was applied.

Immediately, it was obvious Mercedes didn’t agree with the penalty, with team boss Toto Wolff explaining to media that Antonelli had earned a meritorious fourth place, and suggested that, in the team’s eyes, there was no obvious breach of the rules – but Wolff stopped short of criticising the decision taken by the stewards.

“It’s the first race in Melbourne. I don’t want to criticise anyone or anything,” he said.

“We looked at the incident. It doesn’t seem to follow the rule book that it was an unsafe release but maybe someone just had fun doing that!”

Asked by Sky F1 if Mercedes had had any time to discuss Antonelli’s penalty with the stewards, Wolff replied: “No. And you can only shake your head.

“It came up there’s an incident. Nobody saw it, it wasn’t played. And 90 seconds later, there was a penalty of five seconds, so…”

Mercedes petition for a right of review over Kimi Antonelli’s penalty

In order to appeal the penalty, Mercedes lodged a petition for a Right of Review over Antonelli’s penalty.

This process consists of a 96-hour window after the awarding of the penalty for an aggrieved party to write to the stewards to request a review. The requirements for this are that relevant new and significant evidence – which was not available to the stewards at the time of their original decision – is presented.

Hours after the chequered flag in Melbourne, the stewards confirmed a petition had been lodged by Mercedes, in accordance with Article 14 of the International Sporting Code, meaning the team had lodged evidence it believed was new and relevant for the stewards.

Nico Hulkenberg, as well as a team representative from Sauber and Mercedes, duly visited the stewards on Sunday evening in Melbourne, to discuss the matter – the results of which were published by the FIA stewards shortly after.

The hearing heard Mercedes’ evidence, and confirmed that the team had submitted their petition within the permitted 96-hour window.

The stewards decreed that Mercedes’ petition was admissible, having complied with all requirements, and that its evidence was significant, relevant, and new – it had not been available to the stewards, nor Mercedes, at the time of the penalty decision.

Mercedes provided video footage from Antonelli’s roll hoop camera, which had been downloaded from Formula 1’s camera post-race. This footage was relevant and significant to the stewards, who then examined the video to see whether Antonelli’s penalty warranted overturning.

This video footage, as well as supplementary footage from an F1 helicopter, resulted in the stewards overturning their decision to penalise Antonelli – his five-second time penalty was erased, and his fourth-place finish restored.

“It is clear that [Antonelli] did not cross into the fast lane until a significant distance down the pit lane and only after the driver checked his mirror to confirm clearance with [Hulkenberg],” read the verdict.

“The roll hoop camera shows that he had sufficient room to safely pass the McLaren pits without risk to the McLaren mechanics.”

Antonelli’s fourth-place on his debut makes him the second-youngest points-scorer in F1 history, at 18 years, six months, and 19 days – only eclipsed by Max Verstappen who was 17 years, five months, and 29 days old when he finished seventh at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix for Toro Rosso.

Asked whether his fourth-place result has validated Mercedes’ choice to turn to him as Lewis Hamilton’s successor, Wolff said, “We always knew the potential.

“We followed him since he was a kid, and he performs under pressure.

“Yesterday, in qualifying, that wasn’t his doing – he just hit a bump at the wrong place, and he would have qualified much further ahead.

“Today, he was able to just reel everybody in slowly but surely, without making any mistakes. He had a little spin but, otherwise, P4 is the result that he merits.”

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