Qualifying wasn’t easy for Kimi Antonelli as he struggled to extract the level of performance he’s got used to from his Mercedes machinery. Finishing five-tenths off polesitter Max Verstappen, he stood in front of microphones thinking he was indeed fourth on the grid. But, thanks to a grid-place penalty for Isack Hadjar ahead of him, he was promoted to third. This resulted in a brilliant reaction from the Italian.
Talking to Formula 1 in the pen following the session, the championship leader begins his interview looking a tad deflated. It’s the body language of a guy disappointed after what has been a very impressive second season of his career so far. But the reporter, Lawrence Barretto, mentions that he’s still starting the race in a solid position: P3.
Antonelli responded before his brain had fully caught up with what had just been said to him.
“Yeah, I mean it’s… you know, definitely… Oh wait, I’m starting P3 tomorrow?” A smile spread across his face.
“Yeah. You get the penalty from Hadjar,” Barretto answered, realising the driver wasn’t aware.
“Oh! Oh, that’s not too bad!” Antonelli chirped.
Hadjar’s grid penalty comes from the usage of his seventh internal combustion engine so far this season. For Antonelli, this small improvement to his result comes as welcome news after he struggled during Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying where he crashed in Q1. Although even then, the driver should be pleased with a fifth place finish after starting 16th.
But how does he think Sunday’s race will fare?
“I think these race where race pace is even more important,” he said. “I still believe that Red Bull have the upper edge on pace and Ferrari is very close. But we’ll do our best. I think track position is going to be very important and we’ll try to manage those tyres the best way as possible and then try to… if we can fight for the win, great. If we have to settle for P2 or P3, we’ll take that.”
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