Mercedes has been placed under investigation by the F1 race stewards after creating an unsafe situation during qualifying.
It forced race control to throw a red flag during Q3 following the bizarre error from Mercedes.
The Brackley-based squad sent Kimi Antonelli's car out onto the track with its cooling fans still attached to the car.
While the first cooling fan was deposited into a gravel trap, the second became stationary on the racing line after Turn 2.
It was then struck by Lando Norris's McLaren, disintegrating it into hundreds of pieces.
Norris immediately noted that he had struck some debris and requested that his car be checked for damage.
Antonelli was lucky to take part in the session at all after Mercedes carried out repairs following a seismic crash at the end of FP3.
The Italian driver emerged from the garage late in Q1 to get a lap time on the board.
Most read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!