A bitter night for Kimi Antonelli turned into one of the most challenging evenings of the young driver’s career, as he will start only seventeenth with the Mercedes in the Las Vegas GP. The wet qualifying session, marked by heavy rain, continuous yellow flags, and a rapidly evolving track, completely overturned expectations and left the Italian visibly frustrated after an impressive Friday performance. The crucial moment came on his final attempt: a lap that seemed good enough to comfortably reach Q2, and perhaps even more, but it ended in disaster due to a lock-up at the last braking zone, just as the track was improving dramatically. Within minutes, Kimi Antonelli went from potentially being in the top 5 to being out of Q1.
Kimi Antonelli reflected on the incident with clear-headedness, explaining how the combination of calculated risk and extreme conditions betrayed him at the decisive moment. “It was difficult for everyone, the track was very slippery. On my last lap, I thought I had a good enough time to be in the top 5, and I even left a bit of margin at the last braking zone to avoid surprises. But it happened anyway: I locked up, had to abort the lap, and was eliminated. Two laps earlier I was fifth, finishing seventeenth is really frustrating,” he said.
Despite the evident disappointment, Kimi Antonelli showed a surprisingly mature attitude, confirming that the episode will not undermine his confidence or the progress he has made in recent weeks. “What happened does not shake my confidence. In Brazil, I went well all weekend, and until today I was doing very well, even this morning with the intermediates. I’m in a good moment. I want to bring good points to the team. I believe it’s possible because we have the pace. It’s about starting well and immediately recovering a few positions,” the Italian driver added at the end of the qualifying session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Leave a Reply