MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Andrea Kimi Antonelli said the decision not to penalize Oscar Piastri during their first lap run-in at Saturday's sprint race in Miami sets a bad precedent for racing in the first corner of grands prix going forward.
Antonelli started the sprint race from pole position after a sensational qualifying lap on Friday, but lost the lead to Piastri in the first corner of the 19-lap race.
Piastri got a better start than the Mercedes and took the inside of the corner, leaving Antonelli wide and in the run off area.
The stewards noted the incident but opted against any further investigation.
"It was a great opportunity but I'm a bit annoyed about lap one with how it went," Antonelli told Sky Sports after the race. "I mean, it seems like it's like this, that you can basically do whatever you want -- so it's good to know for the future.
"Definitely it's a shame but luckily we have a qualifying to bounce back."
Piastri pulled a similar move on Max Verstappen for the lead at the first corner of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix two weeks ago, which also went unpunished.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, clearly frustrated by Saturday's outcome, said the stewards should reconsider their approach to judging wheel-to-wheel incidents.
"I don't think we are setting good precedents," Wolff said. "You are just releasing the brake and then you are just pushing the other guy off. It's for the junior formulas also.
"I think you need to leave a car's space. It's kind of crept in, Turn 1, you push them out. It's Kimi's sixth race and he's learnt a lesson that this is what you need to do. I don't entirely agree with that but that's how we've allowed it for a few years now."
Antonelli lost any chance of scoring points when Red Bull released Verstappen's car into his path during a spate of pit stops for slick tyres midway through the race. The Mercedes driver had to abort the pit stop and complete another lap before returning to the pits for a tyre change that dropped him further down the order.
"If it was the main race that would have been seriously annoying," Wolff said. "But I'm surprised the total lack of judgement there.
"It wasn't even close with releasing without any security concerns. Somebody panicked there."
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner briefly commented on the incident and said: "Yeah look, it was a human error. We'll learn from it."