Kimi Antonelli has described his qualifying accident at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as a “stupid” error, admitting the setback serves as “a good way to come back to earth” during his pursuit of a maiden world title. The Mercedes driver, who has dominated the standings this season, crashed into the wall during the opening qualifying session in Baku, forcing him to settle for 16th on the starting grid for Saturday’s race.
Reflecting on the incident, the 20-year-old Italian explained that he misjudged the track grip compared to his opening lap, leading to an avoidable impact that damaged his car’s suspension. “I need to be on top of it every time because otherwise I do these mistakes and a very stupid one,” Antonelli said, adding that he remains “very mad about it.”
The weekend has been challenging for the championship leader, who spent much of the time playing catch-up following a hydraulic leak in his Mercedes during Thursday’s practice. That reliability issue kept him off the track until the midway point of the second session. While he trailed team-mate George Russell by 0.252 seconds in final practice, he briefly showed strong pace during qualifying by outpacing his teammate on his first run before his error on the second. Antonelli was 0.252secs behind Russell in final practice on Friday, 0.092secs quicker than the Briton after his first lap in qualifying and then made his mistake on his second.
Conversely, George Russell secured pole position following a dominant display in Baku. As Antonelli’s closest challenger in the title race, Russell now holds a significant starting advantage, placing further pressure on the young Italian to recover positions during the upcoming race.
