Kimi Antonelli finished the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in fifth place, maximising his result after the qualifying mistake that left him starting from the rear of the grid. The Italian driver described Baku as his worst weekend of the season after struggling to build confidence in the car, while also revealing why Mercedes did not take the opportunity to fit a fresh power unit following his qualifying setback.
Kimi Antonelli wanted a new power unit after Baku qualifying
The Formula 1 championship leader endured a far from straightforward weekend on the streets of Baku. A lack of confidence in the car culminated in his Q1 mistake during Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying, forcing Kimi Antonelli to start from 16th on the grid. In the race, however, the Mercedes driver recovered to fifth after making the most of the incidents that unfolded around him.
“I definitely didn’t have the pace I had in the previous weekends,” Kimi Antonelli told Sky Sport. “For me it was an uphill weekend, with the problems in FP1 and FP2 and then the mistake in qualifying. It was the worst weekend of the year, but today is one of those days when you have to be happy with P5, also considering the pace, what happened with the Safety Car, the floor damage…”
At the Safety Car restart, Kimi Antonelli escaped the major accident triggered by Franco Colapinto, although he was involved in a light contact with Oliver Bearman’s Haas. “I’m definitely not happy with how I drove, but I’ll make sure I get back to my level next week.”
Why Mercedes could not change Kimi Antonelli’s power unit
Kimi Antonelli then explained why Mercedes did not replace his power unit despite his low starting position creating an opportunity to absorb a grid penalty.
“The problem is that we didn’t have… I would have liked to change it, but we hadn’t planned to replace it, so we weren’t ready and our hands were tied. It’s a shame because I would have very willingly taken the penalty, but in the end that’s how it went.”
Asked about George Russell’s weekend, Kimi Antonelli added: “He had a fantastic weekend, but next time I’ll make sure I put things right.”
Kimi Antonelli says P5 was close to the maximum possible result
Given how the weekend had developed, Kimi Antonelli felt fifth place represented a strong exercise in damage limitation. “The maximum possible was P4 and we got fairly close. The mindset changed straight away because I didn’t have much confidence and, after yesterday’s mistake, I tried to take advantage of other people’s mistakes and finish as high as possible.”
That meant adopting a more conservative approach to avoid throwing away valuable championship points, something that became clear during his on-track battle with Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.
“I knew he would go for it under braking and honestly I could have braked a little later, but I tried to take as few risks as possible. Not having so much confidence in the car, I drove more at 85% than 100%.”
Mercedes prepares new upgrade package for Malaysian GP
Formula 1 will return to Malaysia in a few days after an absence of almost a decade, with Mercedes identifying Sepang as the venue for the debut of its new development package. Kimi Antonelli has already sampled the updates in the simulator and offered an encouraging initial assessment.
“The team is confident, I tried it in the simulator and it seems to work,” Kimi Antonelli said. “Obviously until you put it on track you can never know everything. Sepang is also a very tough track on the tyres and has quite an old surface.”
Kimi Antonelli also expects McLaren to provide a significant benchmark at Sepang. “McLaren is always very strong on that type of asphalt and Lando is always comfortable there, so it will be interesting to see how we perform. Hopefully the upgrades work and give us a little more performance, not that we needed it this weekend…”
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