Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli finished P3 in the F1 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP Qualifying. He will start from behind the first row for the first time this season on Sunday.
Current championship leader, Antonelli, set a time of 1:14.998 in Q3, which qualified him behind teammate George Russell and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. During the weekend, the Italian had missed FP1, as Frederik Vesti borrowed his car. He finished P5, in FP2, and P7 in FP3
Antonelli is still hopeful for the start on Sunday
During the on-track interviews, Naomi Schiff asked Antonelli about finishing P3. It is the first time in the 2026 F1 season that the young driver has qualified outside the front row. After his first pole position, Antonelli has started first for many races.
“Yeah, it’s been a little bit of a difficult weekend so far for me. Didn’t really have the feeling with the car but, yeah, long run was strong yesterday, so definitely that’s a positive,” said Antonelli.
“But today I’ve been lacking a little bit but looking forward to tomorrow.”
He was questioned about whether he had an advantage in getting the slipstream during the race. “Yeah, I mean, we’ll try to get a good start and then, for sure, we’ll try to make the best use of the tow.
“Also, without using, we won’t use any SM, so definitely the slipstream is going to be even stronger. So yeah, now obviously a lot of work to do in order to be ready for tomorrow.”
Antonelli on struggling during the Barcelona-Catalunya weekend
After a great run of form through the last few races, he grew a 66-point lead in the drivers’ championship. Antonelli is not satisfied with his performance this weekend so far.
During the press conference after Qualifying, Antonelli spoke on how he felt about the result. He answered: “Yeah, I mean, to be fair, not really happy. Just struggling with the feeling of the car, very low grip here, and just been attacking a bit too much corners.
“And yeah, in the last lap I lost basically everything in the last sector, a couple of big slides and tyre just went away from me.”
Still, he remained optimistic for the race. “So definitely was not the best performance, but long run was good, so looking forward to that for tomorrow and hopefully we will have the same kind of pace.”
Antonelli on the effect of missing FP1
The young Italian did not drive on the first free practice session, as he lent his car to rookie Fred Vesti. On how much he was affected by missing the session, Antonelli summed up: “Difficult to say.
“I think maybe a little bit, but I think overall this weekend I was just lacking pace, to be fair, on a single lap, so I don’t think how much more of a difference it would have made.”
He further explained: “For sure, FP3 was a very messy session for me, a lot of traffic and not being able also to try the second tyre definitely made things a little bit more complicated, but it’s what it is.
“Still P3, and now we’ll focus on tomorrow.”
“Trying to play the long game,” says Antonelli about his plans for Sunday
Finally, the Mercedes driver was asked about what he felt was his biggest opportunity for the race. Whether it was the start or the tyre degradation. Antonelli answered: “I think both.
“It’s a long run into Turn 1. Also, without the use of the wing, the slipstream is going to be much stronger, so important to get a good start and then try to get away cleanly into Turn 1.
“And then from that point on, it’s going to be trying to play the long game. Tyres are very fragile here and we might see a lot of stops during the race because, yeah, they don’t last very long.”
