After Imola, Monaco too seems, for now, a weekend to forget for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who hit the barriers during his last attempt in Q1, forcing him to end qualifying early and settle for an eighth row start, meaning a tough race ahead.
A mistake, defined by the Italian driver himself as “avoidable,” that fits into a weekend where Mercedes did not shine, struggling to make the most of tire grip and, more specifically, to get the front axle working well at low speeds, losing valuable tenths over the lap.
Although the drivers opted for a setup change after FP3, especially George Russell, who returned to familiar settings after struggling through all three practice sessions, the Silver Arrows failed to shine, and that hope of turning the situation around for a good qualifying result faded within minutes.
During his last Q1 lap, Antonelli touched the inside wall of the chicane just after the tunnel, damaging the left front steering arm. The damage caused a loss of steering control, making it impossible to avoid the barriers. Even without the second impact, continuing would have been impossible.
The Italian did not hide his disappointment, especially because the crash happened on a lap that, in fact, was not even necessary to pass the cut. The Mercedes driver was one of the last to go out, and those who could have overtaken him in the standings, like Oliver Bearman (who aborted his lap on team orders to avoid hindering his teammate), had already completed their attempts.
However, Antonelli was not informed of this situation and went out anyway, resulting in the error: “I think it was an avoidable mistake because I had already passed. It’s a shame to end the session this way,” the Mercedes driver said after qualifying. “I think I damaged the left front. I lost tire pressure and then couldn’t steer anymore.”
On Friday, the Italian had focused heavily on qualifying simulation, experimenting with tire warm-up to get more out of the rubber on a flying lap — a delicate aspect that has often penalized Antonelli in the search for qualifying time in the early part of this season.
At this point, not only for Antonelli but for both Mercedes drivers, it will be an uphill race, as Russell was also forced to stop due to a technical issue: his car went into protection mode, cutting power after passing over a bump at turn 1.
Starting from the back, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Mercedes try something radically different strategically, perhaps pitting one of the two drivers early in the race to get a jump on the stop.
“We will try something with strategy to see if we can do something, but I really need a reset because these are two tough weekends in a row. The car seemed definitely better in qualifying and I was trying to find the rhythm.”
“It’s really a shame to end like this because today it’s clearly all my fault. I will definitely learn. Even though it’s been a really difficult weekend, obviously it’s not ideal, but I will learn a lot and we’ll see what we can do in the race.”
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