Andrea Kimi Antonelli has explained the mistake that cost him fourth place in Formula 1’s Qatar Grand Prix – to title contender Lando Norris’ benefit.
Antonelli was chasing Carlos Sainz for the final podium spot when he lost control of his Mercedes on the penultimate lap of the race. Norris snatched fourth place away, crucially scoring two more points, which earned the Mercedes rookie criticism from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
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“With the hard [tyre] I was pushing quite a lot, and eventually I was getting to DRS [behind Sainz],” Antonelli related. “But in [Turn 9] I had a massive moment and almost crashed, so then I went off track and lost the place to Lando, which was very annoying.”
Asked if this was his error or car-related, the Italian youngster said: “I need to check.
“I went in a bit quicker than the lap before – obviously with dirty air the car is more unpredictable because you have less downforce, and the tyres overheat more, but I went in a bit quicker and just lost the rear all of a sudden.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
“I didn’t expect it, and obviously at such a high speed I went off track, and then the next corner picking up all the dirt I had a massive moment again and went off track again, so I just need to look into detail, but it was pretty annoying.”
Antonelli added he otherwise would have ‘comfortably’ kept Norris behind – “in dirty air, he couldn’t get past” – but likely had no real shot at the podium.
“Very difficult,” he reckoned. “We were gaining quite a lot on Carlos, and we were quite a bit stronger in the last sector, so definitely with two laps to go we would have had DRS in that lap, and then probably would have had a shot in the last lap, but at the end it didn’t happen because I went off track and just didn’t have the chance.”
Photos from Qatar GP – Race
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photos
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