Mercedes pondering Kimi Antonelli penalty protest at British GP

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has confirmed his team is looking into the possibility of protesting Kimi Antonelli's British Grand Prix penalty.

The Italian driver was issued a five-second time penalty after being deemed guilty of breaching track limits on multiple occasions around the Silverstone track.

Antonelli objected over the team radio by stating he was not in complete control of his car following a failure of the front wheel shield, which significantly hampered his pace and ability to keep the car between the white lines.

After two trips into the pit lane, Antonelli was demoted to ninth place - but all hopes of holding onto the points were dashed when the field bunched up under a safety car.

Mercedes is now looking to see if it can protest the penalty, which dropped him to P16, under the circumstances of his off-track moments being caused by a car issue.

“I don't know the latest, but we're definitely looking at the situation and whether we can avoid that penalty for track limits,” Wolff told media including RacingNews365.

“He couldn't turn the car.”

Antonelli was informed over the team radio to retire the Mercedes challenger, but the championship leader insisted he would stay out in a bid to bring home points.

Wolff hailed the mentality of his young driver, stating the points could prove decisive in this year's title fight.

“If it were me, I would have made the call 10 laps to the end to pit because of safety issues,” Wolff said.

“But the suspension looked okay. That's the biggest issue, and he was just basically surviving from lap to lap and saying that he could do that.

“In the end if we're able to get rid of that penalty, these points could be decisive in a championship.”