Following a maiden F1 podium for Kimi Antonelli at the Canadian GP, expectations remained low for Mercedes at the Austrian round.
The W16’s well-documented struggles in hot conditions suggested another tough weekend ahead. Saturday’s qualifying session confirmed those concerns with Antonelli securing only 9th position, while teammate George Russell managed 5th after struggling to get out of Q1. Indeed the Italian driver only made it into Q3 by seven hundredths from Fernando Alonso.
A late yellow flag also hampered Antonelli’s qualifying efforts in the final segment. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly spun in turn 10 and brought out the yellow flags.
Antonelli unhappy with Bortoleto in F1 Austrian GP qualifying
Kimi Antonelli reflected on the sequence of events that ultimately cost him. He explained how a minor error snowballed into a significant disadvantage.
The Italian also detailed how the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto bumping his way into the queue was costly as the chequered flag fell before he made it..
“I exited on garage because I put first gear a bit late, so I lost a little bit of my spot. I was in the queue, and the Sauber kind of forced in, so it was not really fair. Then I found myself in a really bad position because I had to take the gap. I don’t know by how much I missed the flag, but I guess it was by very little.”
The Italian driver also described how the change in wind direction hurt Mercedes on Saturday.
Nonetheless, a top 7 or 8 was definitely a possibility if he got to run his new set of softs at the end.
“The wind changed a lot compared to yesterday, and that affected us quite a bit. That put us in a more difficult position, but I think overall that inside the top six was possible today, especially with that last lap. If I had finished it, it definitely would have been much better.”
Hopes for a better race
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, Antonelli remains cautiously optimistic about Sunday’s prospects at the F1 Austrian GP.
Their encouraging practice race pace on Friday gives him confidence for tomorrow’s race, although it’s clear they are nowhere near as strong as Canada.
With Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto started ahead, P7 should be the minimum target for the Italian rookie.
“The race pace was strong, but now we’re starting P9, so definitely there’s a lot to work on. We’ll try to work a lot tonight in order to be ready for tomorrow.”
“In FP, the pace was good, so hopefully tomorrow will be the same. It’s a track that offers a lot of racing, so hopefully with a good pace we can move forward.”
