Mercedes have been fined by the FIA after releasing Lewis Hamilton’s car in an unsafe condition during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The incident happened during the session as the Briton fought to secure the best possible starting position for the race at the Red Bull Ring.
A wheel jack was still attached to his car as he pulled out of the Mercedes garage and into the pit lane and it was caught by the TV cameras.
And they have now confirmed a £4,250 fine for the team is the punishment they have deemed to be appropriate.
“Hamilton received no sporting penalty for the rule breach as he was not responsible for what happened.
And Max Verstappen, who took pole position, also avoided a penalty after he too was investigated over a separate matter.
The Red Bull racer dominated qualifying but was accused of “driving unnecessarily slowly” at the end of the pit lane during the session.
After reviewing video evidence, the panel of stewards decided that no further action against the Dutchman was necessary.
They wrote: “Despite the fact that Car 1 [Verstappen] exited the pits slowly and made up a gap of approximately 14 seconds to the car in front of him, the stewards determine that in this case no other car was directly affected by this in their attempts to set a lap time.
“Verstappen will be joined on the front row of the grid by Lando Norris who, for the second time on this Sprint weekend, was pipped to pole by his rival.
As a result, McLaren have lodged an official protest against the result of the session to try to get that lap reinstated.
