Lewis Hamilton blow as F1 stewards make decision on penalty at Chinese GP Sprint qualifying

Kimi Antonelli has escaped a grid penalty for the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint race. The Italian youngster was placed under investigationfollowing an incident which forced Lando Norris to abandon what had initially looked like a quick lap during Friday's qualifying session.

The three-place penalty he risked receiving would have seen Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri each move up a position on the grid for Saturday's Sprint race. The incident occurred during SQ2 when there were 16 cars on track, all competing for a spot in the top 10.

Norris was just beginning a push lap when he encountered the slower-moving Mercedes driven by Antonelli, who appeared unaware that the McLaren was approaching. Norris was forced to take evasive action which prevented any contact but ruined his lap.

It didn't cost him a place in the final part of qualifying, but there was concern at Mercedes that Antonelli might face consequences as the incident was noted by race control and, at the end of qualifying, that was escalated to a full investigation.

However, it has now been confirmed that no further action will be taken. The stewards stated: "The driver of Car 1 [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.

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"In 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."

Both Antonelli and Norris were among the 10 drivers vying for pole but were outpaced by George Russell, who is aiming to build on his Australian Grand Prix victory with additional wins in Shanghai this weekend. Antonelli was second fastest behind his team-mate, while Norris found the speed in his McLaren to qualify as best of the rest behind the Silver Arrows.

Hamilton, who stood to gain if Antonelli was penalised, qualified fourth in the Ferrari ahead of Oscar Piastri. Charles Leclerc only managed sixth in the other Ferrari as, for the second consecutive year, he was out-qualified by Hamilton for the Sprint race in Shanghai.

Discussing the incident after Sprint qualifying concluded, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella conceded that Norris might not have been able to sustain a full flying lap at that stage anyway.

He stated: "In reality, it wasn't clear whether you would do the warm-up lap or the push lap. In the end, because of the way he was using the energy, I don't think that was going to be a fast lap. But the stewards will take a look."

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One thing that was immediately apparent post-qualifying is that Russell will once again start from pole position as he and Mercedes maintain their excellent beginning to the new season. The Brit said: "The car has been feeling amazing. We knew after Melbourne we had a really good car, the engine is performing really well and the car was a joy to drive."

Russell was overtaken by Leclerc at the commencement of last Sunday's Grand Prix in Melbourne, with Ferrari demonstrating a clear advantage off the line compared to their competitors.

When questioned about the possibility of being overtaken before the first corner again despite his flawless qualifying result, the Mercedes driver responded: "Since Melbourne, we have been working on how to get off the line quicker, so I guess we'll find out tomorrow."