Andrea Kimi Antonelli reflects on tough Monza race: “We’ll aim to do better in Baku”. Andrea Kimi Antonelli struggled at the Italian GP.

F1 | Italian GP – Andrea Kimi Antonelli disappointed after Monza: “I struggled, we’ll aim to do better in Baku”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished in the points at the Italian Grand Prix despite receiving a last-minute penalty, leaving the young Mercedes driver with mixed feelings after a challenging weekend at Monza.

Starting from sixth on the grid, Kimi Antonelli immediately faced difficulties, dropping to tenth by the end of the first lap. The Italian admitted he “slid a lot” off the line, which caused him to lose multiple positions early on in the race.

However, after his first pit stop, Antonelli managed to climb back into the top ten and was running as high as seventh. Unfortunately, a five-second penalty for “erratic driving” applied in the closing stages dropped him to ninth by the finish line. He had previously received a white-and-black flag warning, indicating that any further track limits violations would trigger a penalty, which ultimately occurred.

Despite these setbacks, Antonelli’s pace throughout the race was strong, and his qualifying performance, often cited as his “Achilles’ heel,” showed notable improvement this weekend.

Kimi Antonelli reflects on his Monza performance

The 19-year-old admitted he was disappointed with his poor start, which cost him several positions, but remained optimistic about the weekend overall. He explained that he lost around five positions at the start due to wheelspin and then had to fight his way back through the field.

Antonelli highlighted that with the medium tires, his pace was solid, especially in clean air, but he struggled more on the hard tires. He also lost time behind Pierre Gasly and found it impossible to keep Alexander Albon behind once the Thai driver had fresher tires.

Nevertheless, Kimi Antonelli emphasized that the weekend was a positive step forward. “Qualifying was the most encouraging session, and now we’ll aim to do better in Baku,” he said, reflecting on the progress he made over the Italian GP weekend.

Despite the late-race penalty and the challenges he faced during the race, Antonelli comes out of Monza more confident, particularly in his qualifying performance. “I definitely feel more secure. Qualifying went better, which was my Achilles’ heel in recent races. Hopefully, we can continue to improve as we head to the next events,” Kimi Antonelli concluded.