Kimi Antonelli’s mixed Monza weekend: mistakes at the start but positive reaction ahead of Baku. Kimi Antonelli reflected on his challenging but positive Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Antonelli, more mistakes but a good reaction at Monza: “Happy with the weekend, now focused on Baku”

Monza represented a special weekend for Kimi Antonelli, almost like a test of maturity in what was his second home Grand Prix of the season. After the technical problems that forced him to retire at Imola, the young Italian Mercedes driver was determined to bounce back. However, even at the Temple of Speed, his weekend began with difficulties. Antonelli completely missed the second free practice session due to a rather basic mistake, which prevented him from finding the right rhythm in Saturday’s first session. This left him approaching qualifying under added pressure. Despite that, he managed to secure a respectable seventh position on the grid, just a few hundredths of a second behind his teammate. At the start, excessive wheelspin complicated his race, but to his credit, he avoided further errors as the laps went on.

Kimi’s reaction after the race

It was a race under constant pressure for Antonelli, who at the end of the Italian Grand Prix analysed both what had happened on track and his weekend overall. While there were still mistakes, there are also positive aspects to take away ahead of the next race in Baku, scheduled for the weekend of 19–21 September. These were his words after the race:

“I lost five positions at the start because of wheelspin and had to play catch-up. On the medium tyres the pace wasn’t bad, especially in clean air, while on the hard tyres I struggled a bit more, also getting stuck behind Pierre Gasly for quite a while. Anyway, I’m happy with the weekend overall and qualifying was definitely the most positive session. Now we will try to do better in Baku.”