Kimi Antonelli after finishing 2nd in sprint qualifying: “Like night and day”

This was something Kimi Antonelli hadn’t anticipated: the Mercedes junior star, who had confidently set the second-fastest lap in the first and only free practice session at the Silverstone Circuit, initially struggled to get up to speed in the subsequent sprint qualifying. The 19-year-old from Bologna had to settle for the seventh-fastest lap, after which he headed back to the pits, where his team made a few adjustments within the permitted limits.

It paid off: in the second part of the time trial, the speedy Italian was clearly on better form, though he couldn’t match the SQ2 fastest time set by his Mercedes predecessor Lewis Hamilton – ultimately falling short by 99 thousandths. The gap to the Ferrari star, who was setting the pace, narrowed further in the final and decisive segment of the Sprint Qualifying. In the end, the curly-haired driver was just 11 thousandths off the seven-time world champion’s Sprint pole time.

Antonelli sighed once the job was done: “It was so close – what a shame!” And the championship leader explained: “In the first qualifying session, the car didn’t feel that good; after that, we made some adjustments to the balance and it was like night and day when I set off in SQ2. In the final session, there wasn’t much room for improvement left, and I managed a decent lap that brought me very close to Lewis’s time.”

“But he was the benchmark – congratulations to him and his team. We’ll see what’s possible in the Sprint tomorrow,” added the star driver, who, reflecting on Mercedes’ performance, praised: “Ferrari has made incredible progress. It’s certainly going to be a difficult race. Lewis is also in top form, and that’s a good thing because we love a challenge. We’ll give it our all and try to make the most of it.”

When asked whether victory in the fourth sprint of the year was possible, Antonelli finally replied confidently: “Of course it’s possible; we’ll give it our all and try to cross the line first. As I said, I don’t expect it to be easy. But anything is still possible in the race, and we’ll try to make the most of every opportunity and realise our full potential.”

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