Mercedes, Sainz escape penalties after Las Vegas F1 qualifying investigations

Mercedes Formula 1 drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, alongside Williams' Carlos Sainz, have escaped sanctions after investigations following Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying.

Mercedes was summoned for both of its cars failing to submit their set-up sheets in time for qualifying, with the document needing to be sent over to the governing body before the 8:00pm start.

As the relevant article of F1's sporting regulations says: "Each Competitor must provide the Technical Delegate with a suspension set-up sheet for both of their cars before each of them leaves the pitlane for the first time during the sprint qualifying session and the qualifying session."

The stewards didn't receive those sheets in time, but in its hearing Mercedes was able to prove that it had sent the documents in time.

"The Stewards heard from the team representative of Car 63 (George Russell)," the stewards wrote, with a similar document addressing his team-mate's summons.

"Although the FIA did not receive the set-up sheet electronically in the specified time, the team was able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Stewards, with copies of the relevant emails, that the sheet had been emailed to the appropriate FIA department but due to some IT security issue it was not received in the specified time."

As a result the stewards take no further action, meaning Russell and Antonelli will line up in fourth and 17th respectively on Saturday night's starting grid in Las Vegas. Russell felt qualifying in difficult rainy conditions was a "missed opportunity" to qualify on the front row after reporting steering issues on his Q3 laps.

His rookie team-mate Antonelli was eliminated in Q1 after locking up on his final flyer, when the constantly improving conditions meant drivers had to make sure they got a clean lap in at the end of the segment.

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli

Meanwhile, Sainz has avoided losing his third-place grid position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, having been investigated for rejoining the circuit unsafely ahead of Lance Stroll.

Sainz went off the road in Q1 at Turn 5 and was seen to return to the track just ahead of Stroll, who appeared to take evasive action. The stewards elected to investigate after the session in a wet qualifying session at Las Vegas.

However, Aston Martin's representative at the stewards' summons stated that Stroll "did not consider the manoeuvre to be unsafe" and thus no further action was taken.