Kimi Antonelli narrowly misses out on the front row in Singapore – and openly admits that his emotions got in the way at the decisive moment.
Kimi Antonelli shows strong pace in qualifying in Singapore – but is still dissatisfied afterwards. The Mercedes rookie finished fourth, 0.379 seconds behind teammate George Russell on pole. “I felt like I had a real chance at the front row,” Antonelli said. “But I started pushing too hard. My emotions took over.”
The 18-year-old’s path to Q3 was already turbulent. In Q1, he had to abort his first fast lap after colliding with a Williams. “I had traffic and was under pressure because I didn’t have a time on the board,” Antonelli said. “But then I was able to put in a good lap.” In Q2, his first lap was deleted due to track limits, “but after that I felt really strong in the car – I thought there was still something to be had.”
Antonelli: I got carried away
But in Q3, the mood changed. “I was really excited because I knew I could get on the front row. And then I started to overdo it. I wanted too much, went into the corners too fast – and that was just too much,” Antonelli admits openly.
What was particularly bitter for him was that, when comparing the data, he saw that he was actually faster in many corners than in Q2. “But in the few corners where I pushed too hard, I lost everything. I didn’t need to take so many risks; we were fast anyway.”
“I was just driving too tensely,” he continues. “The first lap in Q3 wasn’t clean, so I wanted to make up for it in lap two – and that was exactly the mistake.”
Antonelli: Sometimes less is simply more
Despite his disappointment, Antonelli takes away a lot of positives. “It was a good lesson. I’m feeling more and more comfortable in the car, and we’re on a positive trend,” he says. “Monza was good, Baku was good – and the pace was there here too. Today, I just wanted too much.”
The Italian shows self-reflection: “Sometimes less is more. Today I went over the limit, and the car showed me that.“
Mercedes communications chief Bradley Lord also sees the performance as progress: ”It was Kimi’s first time in Singapore, and he reacted strongly under pressure. Only in Q3 did he lack a little composure – but that’s exactly the kind of experience you need to gain.”
