FIA confirm demotion for F1 star at Silverstone

The FIA have confirmed that Mercedes star Kimi Antonelli will serve a penalty at Silverstone as F1 gears up for the British Grand Prix.

Mercedes' youngest star was responsible for a lap one crash with Max Verstappen last weekend at the Austrian GP, where he pummelled into the side of the champion at Turn 3 after a lock up.

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The pair came to a standstill on the track as a safety car was deployed and both drivers jumped out of the car safely, but were unable to continue due to the damage inflicted on the Red Bull and Mercedes.

As a result, the stewards have given Antonelli a three-place grid penalty for the upcoming British GP at Silverstone this weekend, and whilst they understood the collision was not intentional, he was still predominantly to blame for the incident.

The penalty means that even if Antonelli were to secure pole position at Silverstone, he can only hope for a best start on the grid of P4.

F1 title disappears out of sight for Verstappen

Antonelli’s crash with Verstappen has also severely damaged the Dutchman’s chances of a fifth world title, after he emerged point-less from Austria and is now 61 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Despite the devastating consequences for his title hopes, Verstappen remained calm after the incident and journeyed over to Antonelli where they appeared to have a calm conversation.

Speaking to the media after the race, Verstappen was equally measured, where he said: “Unlucky, I guess. It is what it is. I spoke quickly to Kimi, he came with me to the hospitality.

“I think every driver has made a mistake like that. No one does that on purpose as well so for me, that’s not a big deal.

“It was not the weekend that I guess we hoped for pace wise. Then of course we were a little bit unlucky in qualifying with that yellow flag, otherwise you start a bit further ahead.

"Then the race was unlucky again. Sometimes you have those weekends.”

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