Kimi Antonelli escapes F1 Chinese GP sprint grid penalty - here's why

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has escaped punishment for allegedly impending Lando Norris during sprint qualifying at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix. 

Antonelli faced a stewards' investigation into whether he impeded Norris in SQ2 at Turn 1, leaving him in danger of picking up a grid penalty after securing another Mercedes front-row lockout in sprint qualifying. 

But the stewards cleared Antonelli of wrongdoing after the McLaren driver admitted he was not impeded due to being on "pushing warm up lap" and not a push lap. 

"The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 12 (Kimi Antonelli), the driver of Car 1 (Lando Norris), team representatives and video, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence," the stewards noted. 

"The driver of Car 1 (Lando Norris) told us that he was on a “pushing warm up lap” and not on a push lap. In other words, he was not actively seeking to set a meaningful lap time when Car 12 (Kimi Antonelli) came out of the pit lane and onto the track. 

"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 verdict means that Antonelli will keep his P2 starting spot on the grid for Saturday's sprint race. 

Antonelli was beaten to sprint pole position by 0.289s by Mercedes team-mate George Russell. 

Reigning world champion Norris will line up from third place, with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton joining him on the second row.

Speaking before the decision was announced, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella suggested he was not expecting a penalty to be handed down to Antonelli. 

“In reality, it wasn’t clear whether you would do the warm-up lap or the push lap," Stella told Sky Sports F1. 

"In the end, because of the way he was using the energy, I don’t think it was going to be a fast lap, but let’s see what the stewards say. They will take a look at it.”

No penalty for Gasly either  

Pierre Gasly also avoided a penalty following an investigation into whether he impeded Max Verstappen. 

After Verstappen said he did not feel as though he was impeded, no further action was taken against Gasly. 

Gasly will start the sprint race from seventh, one place ahead of Verstappen. 

"Car 3 was on a push lap and came across Car 10 on what the driver of Car 3 described as his optimal racing line at the exit of turn 14," the stewards noted.

"Car 3 had to drive around Car 10 but did not lift. The driver of Car 10 explained that he was aware of Car 3's approach and considered that the safest option was to stay to the left edge of the track. The driver of Car 3 said that the position of Car 10 affected his preferred line but he said that he was not impeded.

"Although the Stewards considered that the driver of Car 10 could theoretically have taken a different approach to the turn and stayed to the right at the exit, given the concession by the driver of Car 3 that he was not unnecessarily impeded by Car 10 in this case, we determined to take no further action."