Kimi Antonelli secured more points to extend his championship lead in the F1 Sprint Race with a positive third place in the 23 laps long event. It was a well fought race on both sides of the Mercedes garage, although he failed to complete the race winning move over his teammate George Russell.
The Italian driver battled in a serious quarrel with the Brit for the win though out the initial laps. In fact, Russell had qualified in P1 for the Sprint Race, ahead of the young talent.
A pivotal moment in Antonelli’s F1 Canadian GP Sprint Race
For the first initial laps, Antonelli had managed to remain within striking distance of the Brit. The duel actually materialized on Lap 6, as the younger Mercedes driver attempted a move on the outside on the race leader at Turn 1. Russell, however, closed the line, forcing Antonelli into the runoff.
The younger talent, in his second season with the team, had immediately opened up on the radio to bring up the matter, as in his opinion he had the apex and consequently he should had taken the spot.
“That was very naughty!” “That should be a penalty, I was alongside the mirror!”
Immediately after his trip into the grass, Antonelli attempted yet another pass on the former Williams man, which too was unsuccessful.
During the remaining part of the Canadian Sprint race, Antonelli went on to lose his original starting P2 to reigning F1 champion Lando Norris. He brought up again the matter of his perceived disadvantage after the end of the race.
In fact, he opened up on the radio: “Yeah, if we’re racing like this, it’s good to know.”
Indeed, Antonelli appeared to be rather upset at his teammate following the contact and the failed overtake.
A more collected point of view
After the end of the race, Antonelli discussed with Sky Sports F1 the emotions the situation had arisen within him, albeit a bit more calm compared to his initial fury.
“Yeah, for sure the win it cost. I think the pace was very strong. Of course, it’s really hard to say, but I feel like overall it was a hard, hard battle.”
While immediately at first emotions were running high, just like the speeds reached, during the interview he appeared much more at peace with the final outcome, and ready to take on a new challenge with Qualifying.
“It felt a bit unfair in the moment, I’m not going to lie, but I think also emotion runs very high and it’s difficult for us to stay very cool because, you know, when you go on track I always try to give my best and I wasn’t trying to settle for seconds. so yeah, it was a hard battle but now for sure we’ll clarify with the team and then we’ll focus on the qualifying.”
