“What an idiot”: Kimi Antonelli explains his crude radio comment about Carlos Sainz

Kimi Antonelli is hugely popular, and not just in Italy. The young Mercedes star is both fast and charismatic. He rarely attracts attention with angry remarks about his rivals; he is usually his own harshest critic. However, at the start of the race weekend in Belgium, the 19-year-old prodigy had some clear words to say.

What had happened? Antonelli was in the middle of a fast lap during the first practice session at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps when, in the second sector, he came up against Carlos Sainz’s slow-moving Williams. Antonelli had to abort his lap and vented his frustration over the radio: “Sainz! What an idiot!”

The whole incident was quite dangerous.

Kimi Antonelli

The teenager was, of course, asked about this strong language once the session was over, and he defended himself: “He took his foot off the throttle at the end of a fast corner, where you’re normally in seventh gear. I had to cut my lap short and that was quite risky. Of course I wasn’t happy about it, and yes, in the heat of the moment I perhaps didn’t choose the best words, but the whole thing was quite dangerous.”

Antonelli finished the day as the fastest driver, completing the 7.004 km lap in 1:45.944 in the second practice session, having had to settle for 6th place with a time of 1:47.603 that morning. Afterwards, he explained: “We were clearly able to turn things around between the sessions. In the first free practice session, we had major difficulties, which we hadn’t anticipated.”

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“But we were able to make positive changes to the car, and of course there’s still plenty for us to do overnight. Red Bull Racing are fast, and McLaren were right up there too. We need to get everything right. It’s encouraging that we looked strong in race set-up,” summarised the five-time Grand Prix winner.