George Russell and Kimi Antonelli Penalized Ahead of F1 Bahrain GP

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli will receive one-place grid penalties for lining up too early in the pit lane after a red flag caused by Esteban Ocon's crash in Q2:

The team was trying to ensure the duo were among the first cars back out on track, but the over-eagerness failed them. Both will try to make up the places lost at the start, though Russell will surely be wishing he was up at P2 to squeeze out pole sitter Oscar Piastri rather than being stuck behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. As for Kimi, the rookie phenom will now have to start at P5 behind Pierre Gasly, who put in a brilliant qualifying performance of his own.

This news comes along with Nico Hulkenberg also having a late lap-time deletion, sending him to 16th and promoting Alex Albon to P15. Had that been caught earlier, Albon would have made it into Q2 to fight for a better position, but the Williams driver will have to settle for a slight bump up the standings in his bid to score points in four straight races.