Mercedes has been fined following the unsafe release of George Russell during qualifying.

"That was dangerous," declared Oscar Piastri as the Mercedes barged in front of him as the field prepared to head out on to the track.

The stewards subsequently heard from the Australian and Russell, along with their team representatives and reviewed external and in-car video evidence.

Russell stated that on receiving the release signal from his mechanic, he had intended to drive down the working lane, however he saw the mechanic from teammate Lewis Hamilton's car in his peripheral vision and in order to avoid him, he claimed he had to move into the fast lane. He was not able to see the approaching McLaren he said.

Piastri stated that he had to take avoiding action by steering away from the approaching Mercedes.

Examination of the pit lane video showed that the mechanic who released Russell did not look down to pit lane to see if it was clear.

Even though the stated intention of the team was for the Briton to move down the working lane then blend in prior to the pit exit, it is still the responsibility of the team to release the car in a safe manner and good practice would dictate that prior to the car being released, the pit lanes (both fast and working) should be checked for approaching vehicles.

Deemed to have breached Article 34.14 a) of the Sporting Regulations, Mercedes was fined €5,000.

That aside, despite his cars finishing the session seventh and ninth, Toto Wolff believes progress is being made.

"The headline result of P7 and P9 is not great," he admitted. "The positive though is that we are not too far off the second row, just one-tenth or so, at a track that was one of, if not the worst, last year.

"We seem to have taken a step in the right direction with the car this weekend," he added. "Everyone is pushing so hard to understand more about the W15 and how we can build on the platform we have. To see progress is therefore encouraging."

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