Antonelli shines in Las Vegas, from 17th to 5th despite the penalty: “I showed what my pace really is”
Kimi Antonelli continues to impress, delivering emotional highs and lows in equal measure. The young driver from Bologna offers a clear picture of his exceptional talent at every Grand Prix, but he still makes occasional mistakes that stain the final result—mistakes that once again cost him the chance to fight directly with his teammate, George Russell.
The Italian finished fifth after a very poor qualifying session that left him only 17th on the grid. In the race he produced a remarkable comeback, but a slightly jumped start earned him a deserved five-second penalty. Because he finished just over two seconds behind Russell, Antonelli was demoted behind Oscar Piastri in the final classification.
“Yes, my feeling is that I moved slightly,” Kimi explained, “but I didn’t really feel it in the car; so I’ll have to review the onboard to understand what exactly happened.”
It was a shame, because everyone in the Las Vegas night saw Antonelli’s brilliant recovery drive. Starting boldly on a set of soft tyres, he was already in the pits on lap two to switch to the hards, taking advantage of the VSC that effectively halved the pit-stop loss.
The gamble paid off. The big question was whether the white-walled tires would survive for 48 laps while he executed clean, precise overtakes, climbing a total of 13 places on track (12 in the final classification).
“I was… talking to the tyres in the last 20 laps, asking them to hang on until the end. I was a bit worried about the graining that appeared halfway through the race, but once I found clean air, especially in the final 10 laps, it started to clear up. I have to thank the team, they were very helpful with advice to extend tyre life. Meanwhile, the laps went by and I was still fast: I’m very happy.”
His pace in the closing laps was impressive, considering the tyre set was reaching 48 laps of life.
“With three laps to go, deep down I knew I might end up sixth with the penalty, but since the race pace kept improving more and more, I started to struggle a little in dirty air. I managed to keep enough of a gap to stay in fifth place. Sure, it’s annoying to have lost fourth position, but it’s fine because I still scored important points for the team.”
“You… whispered to the tyres, but when did you realise you could finish without another pit stop?”
“Well, with 20 laps to go, I got the radio message from the team saying we were switching to Plan B. I knew that meant finishing the race with no more stops. Of course, I tried to manage the tyres, but I felt fairly comfortable in the last 10 laps, even though Oscar was right behind.”
“You fought with Piastri and Leclerc—was it because you wanted to help protect George’s podium?”
“No, honestly, I was just trying to run my own race and, to be honest, I was also trying to catch George. I was only trying to maximise the result because scoring points was important. Obviously, I don’t know whether keeping those two behind helped George, but I was only thinking about myself.”
Kimi is always smiling, but he is starting to show the personality needed to become a true leader. It’s just a shame about the lock-up in yesterday’s qualifying.
“I would focus more on today’s race. The race definitely showed what our pace can be, and we can’t complain. Yesterday was tough, the conditions were difficult for everyone. I rewatched the replay because I couldn’t understand the lock-up, and I saw I had gone over a puddle which might have caused it. A shame, but it’s all experience.”
Leave a Reply