FIA confirms penalty for George Russell: Charles Leclerc to start Bahrain GP from second place. Mercedes Penalized After Pit Lane Violation – Russell and Antonelli Drop One Place.

The FIA stewards’ decision has arrived regarding the possible penalty for Mercedes after the incident involving Antonelli and Russell during Bahrain qualifying: Charles Leclerc will start on the front row.

The stewards have issued their decision on the possible penalty for the two Mercedes cars of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli after the investigation that took place on Saturday of the Bahrain GP. This is good news for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc will start on the front row with his SF-25 car. The two drivers were under investigation for exiting the pit lane too early after the red flag caused by Esteban Ocon, who crashed in Q2.

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) made the decision official on Saturday evening of the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix. A penalty has been issued for George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes drivers, following a regulation breach during qualifying.

Decision on George Russell, Charles Leclerc starts second in Bahrain
The FIA stewards have imposed a one-place grid penalty on George Russell and Kimi Antonelli for the Sunday race, following an infraction committed during qualifying.

The incident in question involved both drivers entering the fast lane of the pit lane before the restart time of the session had been officially confirmed. In doing so, they violated Article 12.2.1 i) of the International Sporting Code and the event notes of the Race Director.

As stated in documents 33 and 34 released by the FIA, the instruction to enter the fast lane was given by Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ technical representative. This was due to a misinterpretation of a message on the timing screen which displayed “estimated re-start time.” That estimate was mistakenly taken as an official confirmation of the session restart. Reportedly, the absence of Sporting Director Ron Meadows contributed to the confusion in managing the release of the drivers.

The stewards’ decision
It was acknowledged that there was no direct competitive advantage and that the error was the result of a genuine misunderstanding. However, the stewards decided that the breach still warranted a sporting penalty to prevent similar situations from happening in the future. For this reason, the mildest possible sanction was chosen: a one-place grid drop for both drivers in the upcoming Grand Prix.

For Mercedes, this represents an unexpected setback, though it does not compromise the entire weekend. However, the penalty could prove strategically inconvenient in a race where every position counts. It remains to be seen whether the team will manage to respond on track, avoiding further missteps in a season already filled with pressure.