The third-place finish perhaps leaves more disappointment than satisfaction for Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Italian admitted that the pressure created by Saturday’s qualifying session carried over into Sunday’s race, leading him to approach the opening laps with what he described as “tunnel vision.” To make matters worse, persistent brake problems hampered his performance during the first part of the Grand Prix. From the midpoint of the race onward, however, Antonelli was among the fastest drivers on track, making this a weekend full of valuable lessons despite the podium result.
Across a Formula 1 season featuring more than twenty Grands Prix, one quality matters above almost everything else: consistency. Raw speed alone is not enough. Drivers must maximize every opportunity, even during weekends affected by bad luck or unexpected setbacks. For Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the Austrian Grand Prix fell squarely into that category. A yellow flag in qualifying dramatically altered the starting grid, while several race-day issues inevitably influenced his final result.
That explains why Antonelli spoke with a clear sense of frustration after the race. His pace during the second half of the Grand Prix ranked among the strongest in the field. Although the Italian was the last of the front-runners to make his pit stop, the overall trend mirrored what had already been seen earlier this season, including in Spain, where he had demonstrated stronger race pace than George Russell.
However, the disappointment was not limited to the yellow flag that compromised qualifying. Antonelli also regretted what happened during the opening laps, when he pushed too hard in an attempt to recover positions. He later admitted that he had raced with what he described as “tunnel vision,” an aggressive mindset that ultimately failed to produce the desired outcome and instead opened the door for Max Verstappen.
While trying to overtake Charles Leclerc into Turn 1 on the second lap, Antonelli ran wide into the escape road. That mistake not only allowed the Ferrari driver to immediately reclaim the position a few corners later, but also gave Verstappen the perfect opportunity to capitalize. The Dutchman overtook both drivers in one move, leaving Antonelli down in fifth place during a crucial phase of the race.
“I have to say the first stint was really difficult. Then I felt better in the second stint, while in the third I was genuinely very quick. It’s just a shame that it all came too late,” Kimi told Sky Sports, before explaining that the time lost during the opening stint ultimately cost him the opportunity to attack George Russell and Max Verstappen in the closing laps, even if it meant taking additional risks without worrying too much about the championship standings.
“I definitely would have gone for it because I was right there. Let’s say I also started the race a little with tunnel vision, but if I had the opportunity, I would have tried to make the absolute most of it.”
The mentality itself is the right one. After only a third of the season has been completed, there is little reason to become conservative. If anything, this is still the phase of the championship where calculated risks can pay off before the focus naturally shifts more heavily toward championship management during the second half of the campaign.
But what exactly slowed Antonelli during that opening stint? His Mercedes W17 suffered from a noticeable brake imbalance, with the left and right sides operating at different temperatures. As a result, the car became unstable under braking, pulling alternately to one side and then the other, significantly reducing the driver’s confidence.
On top of that, the Mercedes driver also struggled with an unusually long brake pedal, making braking zones even more unpredictable. These were far from minor issues. It was not simply a matter of managing uneven brake temperatures, but also dealing with a car whose reactions became inconsistent every time he pressed the brake pedal, making it extremely difficult to judge braking performance with confidence.
“I struggled a lot with the brakes at the beginning, and actually throughout most of the race. One side of the brakes was much hotter than the other, so under braking the car kept pulling either to the right or to the left. The brake pedal was also quite long, so I struggled in the braking zones and locked up very often. Maybe without those problems, the final laps would have been different,” Kimi added.
The important takeaway, however, is that Antonelli still managed to secure another podium finish. On weekends when George Russell has not enjoyed particularly competitive race pace, the British driver has often finished outside the top three. Antonelli, meanwhile, continues to build an impressive run of podium finishes even on weekends when he has been unable to dominate, with the Miami Sprint remaining the only exception.
That is an encouraging sign because, once the brake issues eased during the second half of the race, his pace clearly matched what was needed to fight for victory. Over such a long championship, consistently remaining at the front is often what makes the biggest difference. Antonelli understands this well, but he also believes there is another important lesson to take away from this weekend.
“I think there will definitely be weekends where he [Russell] is ahead, and weekends where I’ll be ahead. He’s incredibly strong, very complete, and especially in qualifying he still has that little extra margin, particularly at the end of the session, to find and extract a bit more performance.”
“But I think this weekend has been a really good learning experience for me, especially after starting the season so well. I lost my rhythm a little. Maybe I relaxed too much, or perhaps I became a bit too confident. But it was certainly useful, and now we’ll come back stronger at Silverstone.”
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