Kimi Antonelli admits feeling “a bit empty” after a late mechanical issue denied the Mercedes driver from claiming a podium in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old was on course to finish second in Sunday’s 66-lap race behind race winner Lewis Hamilton<\/a>, Antonelli<\/a> having overtaken Mercedes<\/a> team mate George Russell<\/a> in the closing stages at Turn 1.<\/p>\n But having just moved ahead of Russell, Antonelli’s Mercedes came to a halt out on track, bringing the Italian’s run of five Grand Prix victories to an end and registering his first retirement of the season.<\/p>\n “I feel a bit empty to be fair right now, but it is what it is,” said Antonelli. “Races are like this and it comes and goes.<\/p>\n “For sure the pace was good today. I struggled a little bit in stint one but stint two and three, I felt like I had quite a lot of pace and of course it’s a shame because it was like three laps from the end, almost there. But as I said, races are like this, it’s no one’s fault and now we look forward to the next one.”<\/p>\n Antonelli had started behind both Russell and Hamilton, with Mercedes employing a two-stop strategy as opposed to Ferrari, who placed Hamilton on a three-stop due to the hot conditions.<\/p>\n The seven-time World Champion showed impressive pace but likely would have had to re-pass both Mercedes drivers after making his final pit stop.<\/p>\n That was until a short VSC allowed Hamilton to pit and rejoin in the lead, with Antonelli believing if he had got ahead of Russell earlier, he might have been able to stop Hamilton from claiming his first Grand Prix win with Ferrari.<\/p>\n