Stewards said in a statement that the Briton had escaped a more severe sanction "due to the fact that no clear instruction was given to the driver on where he should park the car after qualifying".
Britain's Lewis Hamilton became Formula One world champion for the second time after winning the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday.
Test driver Pedro de la Rosa put McLaren out in front on Friday after the first practice sessions for Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
'NO problem. Nobody was hurt, which is the most important thing'
Lewis Hamilton will head into his home British Grand Prix praying for the sake of the fans that angry Mercedes bosses continue to allow him and team mate Nico Rosberg to race each other freely.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won his home British Grand Prix for a record sixth time on Sunday to stretch his lead over Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas to 39 points.
Formula One breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday after the sport's new 'halo' head protection device saved Charles Leclerc from what might have been a potentially serious impact.
Sebastian Vettel trimmed Lewis Hamilton's Formula One lead to 17 points with eight races remaining.
The Mercedes driver, who fought back from last to second after being sent spinning at the third corner by Ferrari's Finn, had spoken immediately after the race of the Italian team's 'interesting tactics'.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualified fourth with Mexican Sergio Perez, Verstappen's closest title rival and team mate but a massive 151 points adrift after 15 of 22 rounds, fifth and 0.773 off his team mate's pace.
Mark Webber seized pole position for the floodlit Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday with Red Bull team-mate and quadruple World Champion Sebastian Vettel making a rare error and having to settle for second best.
Ferrari were already feeling the frustration and Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix added a measure of embarrassment to the mix for Formula One's most successful and glamorous team.
The four times world champion is enjoying his best start to a season since he was at Red Bull in 2011, leading Lewis Hamilton by seven points after two wins and a second place from the first three races.
The pole was Hamilton's ninth in 10 races this season, the 47th of his career and left the Briton perfectly placed for a fifth career win at the Hungaroring.
Three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton dominated practice at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday, putting Mercedes on top of the timesheets and leaving his Formula One rivals with plenty to ponder before the weekend.
Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Grand Prix for Mercedes after a first-lap scare on Sunday but the Briton will have to wait another week to wrap up his sixth Formula One world championship. Hamilton's 10th win of the season, and 83rd of his career, was also a 100th for Mercedes as a constructor.
Electrical gremlins held up Lewis Hamilton in Italian Grand Prix practice on Friday after the Mercedes driver had lapped more than half a second quicker than anyone else in the morning session.
Force India conceded fourth place to Williams in the team standings despite Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg securing a doubles points finish in the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix in Monza on Sunday.
F1 has had only male drivers on the starting grid since 1976 but has made a push for diversity
Sebastian Vettel won a tense Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday in a Ferrari one-two that stretched his championship lead to 14 points after Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton sportingly surrendered third place to his teammate.
The Finn lapped the six-km Baku street circuit in one minute, 40.495 seconds, just 0.059 seconds faster than team mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
'The heart still bleeds for the Brazilian who gave us the finest, most memorable start we've seen in Formula One for many a year,' says Raja Sen.
Formula One title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are under huge pressure as they enter the final straight, however much they try to hide it, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said on Friday. "I think that generally, all of us, we underestimate the pressure that is on these guys," Wolff told reporters at the U.S. Grand Prix. "It's a couple of races towards the end of the season, there is all to win and all to lose," added the Austrian in response to a question about triple world champion Hamilton's behaviour towards the media in Japan two weeks ago.
Formula One's governing body ordered an immediate clampdown on access to the pit lane on Tuesday after a television cameraman was struck and injured by a bouncing wheel at last weekend's German Grand Prix.
Ferrari title rival Sebastian Vettel qualified only ninth.
Lewis Hamilton landed an early psychological blow ahead of Formula One's Abu Dhabi title showdown by lapping faster than Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in both Friday practice sessions.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso gave a teasing hint about his Formula One future on Sunday by saying the decision would seem obvious once announced and he was unlikely to drive for a Mercedes-powered team.
Unlike the Australian GP, where the majority of drivers carried out only one pit-stop, of Sunday's second race of the season, at Sepang, Malaysia, will see at least two, says Raja Sen.
Sebastian Vettel handed Ferrari their first Canadian Grand Prix pole position since Michael Schumacher in 2001 on Saturday while Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth for Mercedes. Vettel, 14 points behind the Briton, will start from the front for the fourth time at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after setting a track record of one minute 10.764 seconds on a sunny afternoon.
Diehard F1 followers dotted the hills around the Hungaroring.
Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for his home Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort for the third year in a row
The first race at the Red Bull Ring would be on the July 3-5 weekend.
Force India boss Vijay Mallya says his partnership with the Formula 1 team's co-owner Subrata Roy stands strong despite the Sahara Group chief being in jail since March 2014.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone could have 22 races jostling for a slot next season but teams have made clear they want the calendar limited to 20.
Valtteri Bottas won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday and retook the Formula One lead from team mate Lewis Hamilton after a fourth successive one-two finish for Mercedes.
Four days before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Horner said his team still had plenty of ground to make up, however.
