The Mercedes rookie had been placed under investigation following SQ2 at the Shanghai International Circuit after appearing to impede the McLaren driver at Turn 1.
Antonelli had just exited the pitlane and was travelling slowly on the inside line when Norris arrived behind him and was forced to back out of the lap, initially reporting over team radio that he had been blocked.
However, the stewards ultimately concluded the situation did not warrant a penalty after Norris clarified the nature of the lap he was on at the time.
“The driver of Car 1 (Lando Norris) told us that he was on a “pushing warm up lap” and not on a push lap,” the stewards report said.
“In other words, he was not actively seeking to set a meaningful lap time when Car 12 (Kimi Antonelli) came out of the pit lane and onto the track.
“Had Car 1 been on a push lap then, given the position of Car 12 on the track, Car 12 would have unnecessarily impeded Car 1.
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“In the light of the clear position taken by the driver of Car 1 that he was not impeded by Car 12 as he was not seeking to set a meaningful lap time, we took no further action.”
📻 “He blocked me… I was going to push that lap!”
Lando Norris seemingly gets held up by Kimi Antonelli at Turn 1 👀#F1Sprint #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/hi54pW6csu
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 13, 2026
The verdict means Antonelli keeps second place on the grid for the Sprint Race behind team-mate George Russell, while Norris will start directly behind in third.
Both drivers progressed through to the final part of Sprint Qualifying despite the incident, with the Italian ultimately edging Norris by one position in the final classification.
Reflecting on the session afterwards, Antonelli was encouraged by the pace of the car but admitted his final lap on the soft tyres had not fully come together.
“Yeah, the pace is very strong. Just didn’t put the lap together at the end on the soft,” he said,
“So, yeah, still work to do. But obviously, congrats to George and all to play for tomorrow.”
The result continues a strong start to the 2026 campaign for Mercedes following its dominant performance at the season-opening round in Melbourne, where the team secured a 1-2, with Russell taking the victory from the Italian.
Antonelli said he remains comfortable behind the wheel as he continues to refine his performance across a weekend.
“I’m feeling good in the car. So, there obviously is more about details trying to put all together,” he explained.
“But yeah, tomorrow we try to have a good start and then try to have a good quali.”
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