McLaren‘s role in it” src=”https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1417131_HiRes-1.jpg” />
Kimi Antonelli received a five-second post-race penalty for multiple track-limits infringements despite retiring from Formula 1‘s Barcelona Grand Prix, with McLaren drawing the stewards’ attention to key evidence.
Antonelli’s car suffered an electrical shutdown not long after he had nicked second place from his main title rival, Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
At the time, Antonelli had already picked up three track-limits infringements at the Turn 10 left-hander and only needed one more to trigger the standard punishment, a five-second time penalty.
Those infringements were timed at 3.31pm, 3.38pm and 3.42pm local time, with the race having started at 3pm.
But the race director drew the stewards’ attention to an earlier Turn 10 infringement, timed at 3.16pm, and The Race understands that infringement was noticed and flagged by McLaren.
This led to a five-second time penalty being issued after the race. He was still officially classified in 16th place, five laps down, with that five seconds added to his race time.
“The car left the track four times during the race without justifiable reason,” the stewards’ judgement read.
“The stewards acknowledge that the driver did not receive a black/white flag after his third infringement, but rather after his fourth infringement, as one earlier infringement was only detected later in the race.
“However, based on the current regulations and driving standards guidelines, this does not exempt the driver from complying with the regulations.
“As there might be some ambiguity in the relevant guidelines, the stewards recommend the FIA revisit the current procedures and guidelines as soon as possible.”
So essentially, the black and white (final) warning flag for three offences was only shown to Antonelli once he’d actually committed four, because the first offence, flagged by McLaren, wasn’t noticed until later.
It is unknown whether a different decision would have been made had Antonelli’s car not expired and had he finished on the podium. The implications of the penalty would certainly have been bigger.
