Mercedes hit with €10,000 fine after Antonelli tags Tsunoda in Abu Dhabi pit lane
Mercedes will pay a €10,000 fine after Andrea Kimi Antonelli clipped Yuki Tsunoda’s RB in the Yas Marina pit lane during a frantic end to FP3 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
In the final minutes of the session — which had just been reset after a red flag for Lewis Hamilton’s crashed Ferrari — Antonelli was released from his box as Tsunoda came charging down the fast lane. The rookie’s Mercedes nudged the right-rear of the RB, damaging Tsunoda’s floor and bargeboard area and peeling the left-hand endplate off Antonelli’s front wing.
The stewards summoned both teams and drivers before qualifying and concluded the unsafe release was on Mercedes, not Antonelli, noting the team admitted it was “in a bit of a rush” to get the car back out after the interruption. The fine mirrors the €10,000 penalty Ferrari received for the Leclerc/Norris pit-lane contact in Singapore earlier this year.
Pit-lane bumps are rarely dramatic on TV, but they’re brutally expensive. RB mechanics were left checking the underside of Tsunoda’s car, while Mercedes hustled to replace Antonelli’s front wing and calm down a session that had already been anything but smooth.
Toto Wolff was quick to hold his hands up. Speaking before the verdict landed, the Mercedes team boss apologised to Tsunoda and RB, saying the team would dig into how the release went wrong amid the scramble after the red flag. He also tried to pull a little light from a messy morning: George Russell found a clear lap late on and parked the W16 at the top of the FP3 times as track grip came up.
Radio told the story in real time. Tsunoda immediately reported a “big hit” and suspected damage; Antonelli, who’d been told to head “straight out,” sounded frustrated as he realised Tsunoda was already alongside. The stewards agreed there was nothing the 18-year-old could have done differently once he’d been sent.
For Antonelli, it’s another rookie-year teachable moment—albeit one squarely on the team’s side of the garage. The Italian has shown raw speed this season alongside Russell, but Saturdays like this remind you how quickly a routine turnaround can turn into a paperwork exercise when the pit lane is busy and the clock is ticking.
The fine itself won’t bother Mercedes, but the timing might. Any extra repair work before qualifying squeezes run plans and tyre prep, and Abu Dhabi’s evolution curve can punish a team that’s even slightly out of sequence. RB, meanwhile, will be hoping Tsunoda’s floor survived well enough not to compromise their qualifying performance; even small underbody nicks can sting when you’re leaning on rear stability in sector three.
Stewards’ summary in brief:
– Unsafe release by Mercedes during FP3, following a red flag
– Contact between Antonelli and Tsunoda in the fast lane
– Damage to Tsunoda’s floor/bargeboard and Antonelli’s front wing endplate
– €10,000 fine to Mercedes, no driver penalty
– Precedent aligned with the Singapore pit-lane incident penalty
It wasn’t the headline Mercedes wanted before the final qualifying of the season, but the bigger picture is simple: the team pushed to regain lost time, misjudged the gap, and their rookie paid the immediate price. The paperwork’s done; now it’s about whether either car carries any hangover into the laps that matter.
