Kimi Antonelli delivered a solid performance in the F1 Qatar GP Qualifying. The rookie found himself nearly two tenths behind teammate George Russell, and ended up P5.
Antonelli qualified seventh during the Sprint Qualifying, and gaining a place to finish P6 in the Sprint. The rookie has been slowly improving throughout the weekend and will hope to continue this momentum tomorrow.
A costly moment for Kimi Antonelli at turn 1 in Q3 at the F1 Qatar GP
Speaking about his performance in the print media pen, Antonelli was happier with the result. However, a big moment in turn 1 cost him time on his last run.
“It definitely was a big improvement compared to yesterday. I’m not so happy with Q3. Obviously, I had to use one extra set of new tyres, but the used tyre was not so far from the new tyre to be fair so that was not much of a problem. Just on the new tyre I need to check with the warm-up last lap because heading into Turn 1, I did push a bit more the entry and just lost the rear and had a big moment.
“I lost a little bit of the rhythm because I was already one tenth down on myself. It’s something you don’t want to see after the first two corners. Other than that after the big slide I struggled a bit more with the rear overall during the lap. But still, all in all it’s P5 and a lot to play for it tomorrow.“
Track limits
Antonelli continued to be asked if being on the clean side of the grid could help him get past Russell at the start.
“Definitely today there was a bit of a difference between clean and dirty side, maybe tomorrow there will be a bit less of a difference but we had a strong start today and hopefully we can replicate it tomorrow. Lap 1 is going to be crucial and we saw today how hard it is to overtake. It’s going to be important to at least maintain the position or if we can gain even better but Lap 1 is going to be very important.“
As the Mercedes driver mentioned, the opening lap becomes immensely important at the F1 Qatar GP. The track offers few places to overtake, which makes having a strong start increasingly important.
The rookie also touched on track limits, as he received a black and white flag leading to a 5-second time penalty in the F1 Sprint Race. He was asked if widening the white line, as suggested by Russell, could be helpful.
“It’s just a fine margin and it’s really hard to see if you’re in. Most of the time it feels like you’re in, but that could be handy to just widen the white line in order to reduce the amount of track limits.”
When asked if he was concerned about track limits during the Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver responded:
“Yeah, definitely. The thing is, yesterday in Sprint Quali, they weren’t really checking it, so I took my kind of reference but today I had to change it because I was getting track limits. It was not super easy to change it, but overall I think now I got the good reference to stay in and and I’m not super concerned about it.“
Antonelli aiming for P3 in the F1 Qatar GP
Antonelli has been impressive at times this year. He grabbed his first podium in Canada. This was followed by a second podium finish in Brazil, and then his third in Las Vegas last Saturday. The 19-year-old also took a Sprint pole in Miami.
When asked where his fight is tomorrow, Antonelli optimistically responded:
“I think P3 could be a really good result, to get on the podium. Of course, George and Max are really fast. McLaren have a bit of an advantage over everyone so it’s going to be really hard to fight them but for P3 it can be possible if I’m able to get a good start and gain a couple of places, and then if I get the clean air maybe I’m also able to keep it. It’s easy to say now, it’s hard to make it happen tomorrow so just need to really focus on the process, trying to do the start right, position the car well, and then trying to set a good pace.“
If the Mercedes driver has a good launch off the line tomorrow there is a solid chance he could be the team’s lead car out of turn 1.
