Antonelli laments late mistake in losing place to Norris as he assesses ‘pretty frustrating’ Qatar GP
Kimi Antonelli was left regretting an error late in the Qatar Grand Prix that allowed Lando Norris to pass him for fourth place, with the Mercedes youngster conceding that it “definitely was a mistake”.
Coming off the back of a run of two podiums in Brazil and Las Vegas, Antonelli was arguably in the best form of his rookie season, but he struggled to replicate it and break into the top three at the high-speed Lusail International Circuit.
After finishing the Sprint in P6, he qualified fifth just behind team mate George Russell for the 57-lap race, but a slow pit stop and a detrimental snap of oversteer prevented him from improving back towards the podium.
In a pivotal moment for the championship fight, the Italian ran wide and drifted off the track while running in Carlos Sainz’s dirty air on Lap 56, which helped Norris to sail past and demote Antonelli back to P5.
“It was a pretty frustrating race,” he said. “We were unlucky with the pit stop, having to hold for so long in the box and losing many places. It was a shame on that side. After that, I think the race was compromised a bit because I was stuck in Carlos’ dirty air, just really struggling to get close.
“I’m obviously a bit annoyed with that. With two laps to go, I went a bit quicker into Turn 9, lost the rear and went off track so that definitely was a mistake. I need to move forward now.
“At this kind of track I need to work a bit more, especially with my driving style, but overall I think we took a good step over the weekend. Today I had a good start and had decent pace in the first stint, but it’s just a shame to come away with P5 considering that the podium was so close.”
Like the majority of teams, Mercedes chose to double stack their drivers for their two mandatory pit stops, but a slow stop for Antonelli had a knock-on effect for Russell, who had already lost three positions on the opening lap to drop back to seventh.
The Briton returned to the track in P9 and spent the remaining laps trying to fight for more points. With only one traditional overtaking spot, he was unable to find a way past Isack Hadjar, but eventually improved to sixth after the Racing Bulls driver suffered a puncture on the penultimate lap.
Asked to sum up his race, Russell said: “I don’t think we realised how much the dirty air was affecting us. I obviously spent 55 laps within 1.5s behind cars. When Hadjar got the puncture, I went one second a lap faster – the difference was unbelievable, and obviously I was close to overtaking Hadjar so it was a pretty boring race.
“It’s a shame because this track is amazing to drive, but we need to find a solution to improve the racing aspect.
“It’s fine margins, always. I think we’re close to achieving P2 in the championship now – Red Bull need to win and finish second or third to be ahead of us, so that’s a positive at least.”
