Kimi Antonelli out
After the disappointment in Imola, Monaco is another negative weekend for Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Italian Mercedes rookie paid the price of inexperience and perhaps made his first real driving mistake of 2025. During Q1, the 18-year-old talent crashed into the wall at the Porto chicane after breaking his left front suspension due to contact with the inside wall on corner entry.
What a blow
Adding insult to injury, Kimi Antonelli didn’t even need to push on his final lap because, at the moment of his crash and the subsequent red flag, he was already qualified for Q2 by 22 thousandths of a second over Gabriel Bortoleto, the first eliminated driver who could no longer improve his time. Naturally, the Mercedes driver couldn’t take part in the second session.
Over the radio, Kimi Antonelli apologized to the team for the mistake and was consoled by Peter Bonnington, his race engineer. Sunday promises to be very difficult for him, although the new mandatory double pit-stop rule could shake things up and maybe work in his favor if the team finds an especially effective strategy. For now, the young Italian motorsport talent just has to lick his wounds.
George Russell out too
Completing a nightmare quarter-hour for the Silver Arrows was a technical problem that also stopped the second W16, George Russell’s car. The Englishman was forced to park under the tunnel in the early part of Q2 after an electrical issue ‘shut down’ his car. His despair was obvious in the cockpit and shock spread through the Mercedes garage: Toto Wolff will see his cars start Sunday’s race from 14th and 15th on the grid, a nightmare on a track like Monaco.
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