The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix stewards have fined Mercedes €10,000 (£8,700) for causing a collision with Yuki Tsunoda in the pit lane during final practice.
The team waved Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s car out of the garage into the side of the Red Bull, causing contact between the pair.
After speaking to representatives of both teams the stewards held Mercedes responsible for the collision and gave them the same penalty Ferrari received following a similar collision between Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris in Singapore.
The stewards noted Antonelli’s car “was released from the garage into the path of car 22 [Tsunoda], and collided with that car causing damage to both.”
“The competitor of car 12 [Antonelli] conceded that the team was in a ‘bit of a rush’ due to the prior red flag and also noted that there was no fault that could be attributed to the driver, as he was following the instructions of the team,” the stewards explained.
“The penalty applied is the same as that applied to a similar breach in this year’s Singapore Grand Prix.”
However the stewards gave Williams a less severe penalty for another incident in the same session involving its driver Alexander Albon. He was sent out of the garage in front of Esteban Ocon, who had to brake to avoid contact.
“This was a clear case of a release which caused another car to brake almost to a stop to avoid a collision and hence was determined to be unsafe,” the stewards ruled after speaking to both drivers and representatives of their teams.
Williams were fined the same amount at the Qatar Grand Prix a week ago for sending Carlos Sainz Jnr out of the pits with a garage floor sticker attached to his rear wheels.
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