Andrea Kimi Antonelli suffered a disastrous crash in System 1 qualifying in Azerbaijan, ending his hopes of pole in Q1.
The Championship chief clipped the wall in Flip 1, damaging his front-left suspension and taking him out of the session.
Fortunately, his final good lap was quick sufficient to guarantee him a spot in Q2, however the harm was fairly actually completed. Because of this, he begins sixteenth on the grid tomorrow.
Naturally, Antonelli’s frustration was palpable, and he admitted he ‘wasn’t 100% there’ within the session. His weekend has been removed from easy, with automotive points disrupting his earlier apply classes on Thursday.
He spoke to the media about how disruptions harm the weekend’s rhythm, and a small mistake left him out of pole rivalry.
“I missed three-quarters of FP1, half of FP2, so then you definitely simply don’t get within the rhythm. However then clearly I made a mistake at present, so it’s each. Additionally my aspect.
“Positively I wasn’t one hundred pc there.”
Initially, after the contact, Antonelli was determined to repair the automotive and proceed, speaking with the storage and his race engineer, Peter Bonnington, who instructed the Mercedes driver to drag the automotive over as a result of the harm was too extreme to proceed.
Kimi Antonelli to ‘reset’
Antonelli confessed that it was irritating not with the ability to get again out on observe. He mentioned: “It was irritating. I attempted my finest to return in, however then they instructed me that the harm was too massive, so I needed to bail out.
“Which is much more annoying as a result of clearly I hoped they might restore it. Additionally, as a result of that lap would have been nonetheless okay to get via.
“However sadly it was not potential, so we are going to reset and transfer on.”
The Mercedes continues to be the quickest automotive on the grid, which is proven by Antonelli’s teammate clinching pole place. The climb from the again of the grid to the entrance isn’t exterior the realm of risk for the Italian, who managed the identical feat in Monza.
Though it’s more durable to overhaul across the Baku road circuit than the Temple of Velocity, Antnelli’s focus is on the beginning and staying out of hassle.
“Good begin, keep out of hassle after which attempt to set a very good tempo,” he mentioned.
“Clearly it’s going to be a bit more durable than Monza as a result of it’s a bit more durable to overhaul right here, however I imagine we are able to nonetheless do a very good race.”
Regardless of the troublesome outcome, the Italian nonetheless leads the championship battle by a powerful 81 factors, which retains him comfortably forward even after a troublesome weekend.
READ MORE: George Russell capitalises on Antonelli shunt with dominant F1 Baku pole
