Kimi Antonelli was left disappointed after suffering an “unnecessary” crash in qualifying at the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, leaving him P16 on the grid.
The Mercedes driver has had a challenging start to his Baku weekend after facing a hydraulic issue that forced him to miss most of FP1 and FP2. Despite the disrupted track time, Antonelli finished P5 in FP1, P2 in FP2, and P4 in FP3 before setting a 1:45.504 on his opening Q1 lap.
However, Antonelli’s qualifying session ended abruptly at the start of his second flying lap, when the Italian tagged the inside concrete wall at Turn 1, damaging the front-left of his Mercedes. While his first lap was enough to progress to Q2, Antonelli’s early exit leaves him with plenty of ground to make up.
Antonelli explains qualifying error at 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP
Reflecting on his short qualifying session in the print media pen, Antonelli admitted that he had misjudged the changing grip and wind conditions at Turn 1.
“Well I don’t think yesterday… yes I did miss a lot of laps, but you know in FP3 I felt pretty good. It was just a misjudgement to be fair with the grip changing so much. An unnecessary one in Q1, you know, and it’s a very good reminder that like this, things don’t go my way, so I need to do a much better job.
“Yeah, also the wind. I had a lot more headwind compared to the lap before, so the front just was much stronger, and I turned in roughly in the same spot, but obviously the car turned more and I clipped the wall.”
Asked how frustrating it was to realise he could not recover the car and continue qualifying, Antonelli added:
“Yeah, it was very frustrating. You know, I tried my best to come in, but then they told me that the damage was too big so I had to bail out, which is even more annoying, because obviously I thought, I was hoping they could repair it. Also because that lap would have been still okay to get through. But unfortunately it was not possible, so yeah, we will reset and move on.”
Antonelli looks to “stay out of trouble”
With the championship leader now facing another recovery drive from the back of the grid, Antonelli will be hoping to replicate his impressive comeback from P19 to P1 at Monza. However, despite Baku’s long straight and heavy braking zones, the 20-year-old acknowledged that overtaking will nevertheless be more difficult than at Monza.
“A good start, stay out of trouble, and then you know try to set a really good pace,” he said. “Obviously, it’s going to be a bit harder than Monza because it’s a bit harder to overtake here, but I believe we can still do a good race.”
Russell the lead Mercedes through the weekend
Despite the setback, Antonelli praised the pace of his Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell, who secured pole after topping Thursday’s sessions and finishing P2 in FP3. The Mercedes W17’s pace was particularly evident in the closing stages of Q3, with Russell finishing 0.837s clear of Charles Leclerc in P2.
“Yeah, for sure, but to be fair our car has been very strong and George has been doing an incredible job this weekend,” said Antonelli. “He’s been feeling very good with the car, so for sure he has made the difference. We have to be honest with that, I have to be honest with that, but also the car has been very, very quick.”
With Russell starting from pole, the Briton will have an opportunity to close down the 81-point gap to Antonelli in the championship.
“To be fair, flat out, I have nothing to lose, and I just need to do the best race I can,” Antonelli continued when asked about his approach for Saturday. “For sure at the start, I’m going to stay out of trouble, but then after that it’s head down.”
Learning from setbacks
Reflecting on his development as a driver, Antonelli highlighted how experience has helped him learn to move forward.
“Yeah, definitely. Obviously with experience, you learn how to move forward. Of course, this weekend has been a bit off with everything, but tomorrow I think we can do a good race.
“I mean just very interrupted, you know,” he added, explaining how the early disruptions affected his preparation. “I missed three quarters of FP1, half of FP2, so then you just don’t get in the rhythm. But then obviously I did a mistake today, so it’s both. Also my side, definitely I wasn’t 100% there.”
