Kimi Antonelli escapes penalty, keeps second place in Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying

The Italian was over three tenths slower than teammate George Russell, who took pole after a dominant display by Mercedes.

Speaking after Sprint Qualifying, Antonelli said: "The pace is very strong. Just didn't put the lap together at the end on the softs. Still, some work to do. It's all to play for tomorrow.

"I'm feeling good in the car. It's more about details and trying to put it all together, but we will try to have a good start tomorrow and a good qualifying," he added.

During SQ2, Norris complained that Antonelli impeded him when he wanted to push.

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella said of the incident: "In reality, it was not clear if you would do the warm-up lap or push lap.

"In the end, because of the way he was using the energy, it was not going to be a fast lap, but the stewards will take a look," he added.

Indeed, in the end, the stewards decided not to slap Antonelli with a penalty and said in a statement: "The driver of Car 1 (Lando Norris) told us that he was on a 'pushing warm-up lap' and not on a push lap.

"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.

"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," the stewards concluded. (Source: Sky Sports F1)