Mercedes will have both cars on the Australian Grand Prix front row on Sunday, after Kimi Antonelli escaped a penalty for being released in an unsafe condition.

Antonelli drove out onto the track with a cooling fan still attached during qualifying, and it came apart and off as he navigated the first two corner.

One of the pieces was then struck by Lando Norris's McLaren, which sustained minor damage.

Mercedes explained to the stewards that the oversight had been caused by a change in the "division of labour" within the team's garage, a legacy of intensive repairs on Antonelli's car after his crash in practice earlier.

"Usually, a separate team member would have responsibility for inserting and removing each fan but the need to address legacy issues from the earlier incident during the session meant that the team member responsible for the fan on that side of the car was occupied on another task and the removal of the fan before the car was released from the garage was missed," the stewards explained.

Mercedes was assessed a €7,500 fine but no sporting penalty.

Much further down the field, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll were all granted permission to take the start despite no time set in qualifying.

1 George Russell (Mercedes)
2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

3 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
6 Lando Norris (McLaren)

7 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
10 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)

11 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)
12 Ollie Bearman (Haas)

13 Esteban Ocon (Haas)
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

15 Alex Albon (Williams)
16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine)

17 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
18 Sergio Perez (Cadillac)

19 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
20 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

21 Carlos Sainz (Williams)
22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)