Unfortunate for the young Italian driver, who fails to make it past Q1 on his debut due to floor issues.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Formula 1 career begins with a Q1 elimination: the young Bolognese driver was edged out in the final moments of the session by another rookie, Gabriel Bortoleto, by just 9 thousands of a second. In tomorrow’s race, he will have to fight his way through the field, starting from the eighth row.
For Mercedes, it was a particular session right from the start, as both George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli went out for their first run on medium tires. This likely didn’t help the young Bolognese driver gain confidence, as he already found himself in the bottom five at the end of the first run.
In his second stint, however, another issue emerged, proving decisive for his qualifying session. After returning to the track on soft tires, Antonelli’s Mercedes began to scrape the asphalt violently and abnormally due to floor damage caused by gravel that had entered the track at Turn 6.
This floor damage not only reduced the performance of his Mercedes but also hindered Antonelli’s confidence, which was already lacking during his first stint on medium tires. As a result, the young Italian driver will be forced to start from the back, in the eighth row, on a track where overtaking is not easy. However, his strong race pace on hard tires, demonstrated yesterday, could certainly aid him in making a comeback.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli eliminated in Q1: his statements to Sky.
Right after being eliminated in Q1, Andrea Kimi Antonelli gave an interview to Sky Sport F1: “We talked about it yesterday in the briefing, that there can be a lot of gravel in turn 6, and when I went over it, the floor came off and started scraping. So I lost a lot in the straights, but I also lost a lot of downforce.”
Finally, Kimi also spoke about the choice of the medium tire for the first stint: “I probably should have started Q1 with the soft tire right away. Honestly, even with the medium, we needed one more lap. We changed the strategy mid-session, but what happened on the lap with the soft tire shouldn’t have happened.“
PHOTO: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, Andrea Kimi Antonelli.