Formula 1 has very strict rules when it comes to setting up the car from the start of qualifying. As soon as you leave the pit lane for the first time, parc ferme conditions apply. This means: Almost nothing can be changed and the final vote for each car must be sent to the FIA ​​at the same time. Mercedes failed in this regard in Las Vegas – but they escaped a potentially serious penalty.

However, at 8:12 p.m. – 12 minutes after the start of qualifying – Jo Bauer, the FIA’s technical delegate, still had no documents on the suspension setup for the Mercedes of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. The suspension setup is one of those aspects of the car that can no longer be changed after qualifying.

Mercedes has an excuse for missing setup documents in qualifying

So a Mercedes team representative was summoned to the FIA ​​stewards immediately after qualifying to explain himself. Changing suspension setups again during qualifying would ultimately be prohibited and would result in a start from the pits. It would only make sense to punish similarly for missing documents.

But Mercedes came armed with explanations. The documents had been sent, as usual by email to the responsible FIA ​​department. But there was an unspecified “IT security problem”. The emails didn’t go through. Mercedes supported this argument with copies of the emails sent.

That was enough for the stewards to let both Mercedes off the hook. George Russell can keep his fourth starting position and Kimi Antonelli his 17th. With this result, Mercedes fell somewhat short of expectations in the rainy Las Vegas qualifying anyway. You can read how the fight for the pole went here: