Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes punished for unsafe release in messy Brazil GP
Kimi Antonelli has received a penalty for his unsafe release in Brazil.
New Formula 1 world champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe release during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Antonelli and a Mercedes representative were summoned before the stewards at 4:30pm local time (7:30pm GMT) over the alleged incident that saw the 20-year-old Italian released into the path of Alpine's Franco Colapinto.
The stewards determined that Antonelli had been released in an "unsafe manner" and noted that the Mercedes driver had to "take steps to avoid a collision" with Colapinto after losing control of his car in the slippery conditions.
Antonelli was hit with a five-second time penalty imposed after the race, but it makes no difference to his finishing position of fifth, due to the newly-crowned world champion finished more than 20 seconds clear of McLaren's Oscar Piastri.
"Car 12 (Antonelli) was released in an unsafe manner when Car 43 (Colapinto) was approaching in the fast lane," the stewards said.
"While Car 12 was entitled to travel down the pit lane in parallel to cars in the fast lane, in this instance, Car 12 momentarily lost control on the slippery surface and had to take steps to avoid a collision and that resulted in a potentially unsafe situation.
"The team acknowledged that this release could have been handled better and in a safer manner. We impose a 5 second time penalty."
It was a tricky race for Antonelli, who spun out of the lead and ultimately ended up finishing behind Mercedes team-mate George Russell in P5.
Despite the uncharacteristically scrappy race, Antonelli was able to celebrate as Mercedes sealed the constructors' world championship title with three races to spare.
Haas driver Ollie Bearman was also handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe release during his pit stop.
It made no difference to the Briton's result given he finished a lap down in 17th.
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