Kimi Antonelli has revealed the extent of the damage he suffered after going off the track in the first phase of sprint qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix. The Formula 1 championship leader will start Saturday's sprint race from fifth on the grid after battling for the majority of sprint qualifying with significant floor damage.
An off at the penultimate corner during his first timed effort saw Kimi Antonelli skate across the unforgiving gravel before returning to the pits so the team could make a quick assessment of the damage to his floor. Despite comfortably reaching the top 10 and ending the day 0.227s shy of his pole-sitting team-mate, George Russell, the Italian was quick to reveal what had been holding him back.
"I had a couple of holes in the floor [after the off]," he told Sky Sports. "So when I came in, they initially said it was a loss of 25 points. They tried to repair as much as possible, but the damage was still there. I was struggling a lot at low speed. It is what it is."
Taking responsibility for the off itself, he added: "There was a little bit too much entry speed in the last corner in that lap one, and I lost the rear and went through the gravel. That was pretty much it. Obviously, it was not easy to build the confidence back, but still decently close, and we'll have another go tomorrow."
Reflecting on the session, Toto Wolff, boss of Mercedes, said: "We lost 20 points with a hole in the floor for Kimi, but we managed to patch it up, and it looked like it was completely intact afterwards. It's so close, the gaps are so tiny, and he made a little bit of a mistake into turn 11, pushing it too hard on the entry, and it [the time] can go quickly."
With the damage not fully repaired, Antonelli acknowledged the sprint race ahead won't be easy. "We'll try to do the best race we can. Obviously, it's very close at the front, so it's not going to be easy to overtake, but we'll try to do the best we can, even with the damage. Then from qualifying, we're going to tidy the car up and go again."
Read Also
Yuki Tsunoda menguji mobil F1 2026 di GP Belanda dan memberi kesan pertamanya. Ia mengakui adaptasi sulit karena kehilangan downforce, tapi optimistis untuk kualifikasi.
Fernando Alonso dan Lance Stroll kesulitan dengan driveability mesin baru Honda di sprint qualifying Zandvoort. Honda masih harus kalibrasi ulang untuk performa optimal.
Alonso dan Stroll kesulitan dengan mesin Honda baru di Zandvoort. Honda harus kerja keras atasi masalah driveability untuk optimalkan performa.
Continue with Google
Discussion (0)
Join the Discussion!
Sign in easily to start commenting, replying, and interacting with other readers.
Latest Comments
No comments yet. Be the first!