Kimi Antonelli breathes sigh of relief after Mercedes team member help

Kimi Antonelli has not been punished by the Australian Grand Prix stewards despite receiving outside assistance from a Mercedes team member.

Antonelli remarkably took part in qualifying at Melbourne's Albert Park despite destroying his W17 in a horrific smash during final practice.

During a red-flag period in Q1 following a crash for Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Antonelli had pulled out of his garage and was waiting to enter the fast lane of the pit lane.

With his front wing jutting over the white line, the young Italian was assisted by a member of his pit crew, who rolled him back a few inches to avoid any incident. That was deemed worthy of an investigation by the stewards.

Explaining their decision not to penalise either the team or the driver, a stewards' statement read: "During the qualifying session, which was suspended due to a red-flag incident, and while the cars were lined up to leave the pit lane, car 12 was waiting to blend into the fast lane.

"Car 12 had inched slightly into the fast lane with a very small portion of the front wing in the pit lane.

"A team member assisted in pushing the car back a little to allow for that part to not hinder the fast lane.

"While the car was touched by the team member (to push it back), this did not constitute a breach of Article B1.6.1e, which prohibits work being done on the car, which clearly was not the case here.

"In fact, the team member was taking steps to not hinder the other drivers in the fast lane, which was entirely appropriate in the circumstances. We accordingly took no further action."