Italian driver Kimi Antonelli will start in 15th for the F1 Monaco GP on Sunday afternoon following a crash at the end of Q1. As he turned into the Nouvelle Chicane, he clipped his left front against the guard rail, damaging the tyre in the process and gently hitting the barrier on exit.
George Russell‘s car conking out in Q2 summed up a terrible day for Mercedes. They will start P14 and P15.
Kimi Antonelli right on the bubble in F1 Monaco GP qualifying
As the chequered flag fell on Q1, the Italian was P15 in the standings and in danger of potentially getting bumped out. Lance Stroll was the most likely candidate to do so following a very strong lap by teammate Fernando Alonso.
Asked in the print media pen if he was up on his previous time, Antonelli was not sure. However, he felt he made an unnecessary error.
“I don’t remember, but it was not so far.
“I think it was a unnecessary mistake because I think I was already through by then and it’s a shame to finish the section like this.”
Antonelli on his crash
“Yes, on the left [I clipped the barrier] and I just couldn’t turn on the right. I think I damaged the front left.
“I mean, I lost pressure from the front left and then I just had no turning.”
Mercedes made improvements into F1 Monaco GP qualifying
FP3 had been extremely disappointing for Mercedes as they could only manage P10 and P11 with Antonelli and Russell as they simply lacked pace.
However, come qualifying, Russell looked far more competitive and was likely a contender for a second or third row start before his issues.
Antonelli felt changes to the W16 had helped but the mistake ended his qualifying early.
“Yes, the car was definitely feeling better in qualifying and I was trying to get into the rhythm.
“It’s just a shame to finish off like this because today is definitely all on me.”
Antonelli admits reset required after F1 Monaco GP weekend
Following the massive high of a pole position at the Miami GP earlier this month, the reality of F1 has hit Kimi Antonelli hard since then.
After getting knocked out in Q2 at Imola and not finishing the race because of a throttle issue, the Italian was refreshingly honest about how he needed to manage his off track schedule better on home race weekends.
Now, Monaco has seen him made an unforced error, although he is not the only one so far this weekend.
“I mean, we’ll try something with the strategy to see if we can do something, but I just need to reset because it’s been two bad weekends now in a row and I need to reset and come back stronger.
“Yes, for sure I will learn [from this]. Even though it’s a really tough weekend, of course it’s not ideal, but I’ll definitely learn a lot and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
