Madring qualifying: Why Kimi Antonelli ultimately lacked confidence

With the fastest time of the day to kick off the Spanish Grand Prix weekend and another fastest lap in the final free practice session on Saturday morning, Kimi Antonelli had secured his place as the favourite for qualifying on the new Grand Prix street circuit just outside Madrid. The Mercedes star also performed well, but at the decisive moment Lando Norris was quicker.

Antonelli was clearly pushing to the limit as he made his final attempt and sighed after the time trial as he, alongside the pole-setter and the third-fastest driver, Max Verstappen, answered questions from GP legend David Coulthard: “I thought I’d put in a good lap. And then this bloke came along and snatched pole from me. He and his team did a good job.”

“For me, it was a very intense final practice session,” the championship leader admitted afterwards. “It was difficult to get the car balance right on this hot track. And my final lap was pretty clean, although it’s anything but easy to put in a good lap on a track like this,” he continued.

“But I think we’ve done a good job overall and we’ll see what we can do in the race. The start will certainly be important,” predicted Antonelli, and when asked where he’d lost the 11 thousandths that ultimately left him short of Norris’s lap time, he explained: “I lost a bit of time in the first chicane and then again in Turn 13. I had a moment of panic on the lap before, so I lacked the confidence to really go full throttle into the corners. But overall, it was a clean lap.”

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