Kimi Antonelli comes back after Oscar Piastri's maneuver at the start of the sprint

Kimi Antonelli's disappointment this Saturday evening at the end of the sprint race is at least as great as his joy on Friday evening, at the end of qualifying which gave him his first pole position in Formula 1The Italian had high hopes for a circuit where overtaking is difficult, but the weather disrupted his plans.

On a wet track, on which he does not yet have much experience, the native of Bologna missed his start a little, leaving Oscar piastri the opportunity to position himself alongside him under braking for the first corner. The Australian, positioned on the inside, was better placed than his rival and took the lead, while Antonelli lost two more positions by trying to brake as late as possible. After leaving the track, the rookie quickly accused the championship leader of having thrown him out over the radio, demanding a penalty that never came.

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The rest of Kimi Antonelli's race turned into a nightmare after a collision with Max Verstappen in the stands, following a blunder by Red Bull who released the four-time world champion without checking if a car was coming. The Dutchman broke his wing and received a 10-second penalty, while the Mercedes missed her pit stop due to contact and was forced to return to the pits a lap later.

Antonelli has a tenacious grudge

Ultimately finishing 11th and out of the points, the youngest pole-sitter in F1 history in sprint qualifying is very disappointed with the final result. While he doesn't blame Max Verstappen, he still hasn't accepted the lack of punishment for Oscar Piastri's maneuver.

"There's one more qualifying round, so it's a great opportunity to bounce back. But it was disappointing, it was such a great opportunity to start from pole position," regrets the protégé of Toto wolff to Canal+. “Losing the lead in the first corner of the first lap is a shame. It seems like you can do pretty much anything you want in that first corner, so that’s good to know. For the incident in the pit lane, you can’t blame Max (Verstappen) because they let him go, he was just following his team’s instructions. There’s nothing he could have done, and it could have been worse than that, it could have been a big accident and endangered the mechanics. I’m glad nothing like that happened.”

Kimi Antonelli will be able to console himself by going on the hunt for a second pole position this Saturday evening during qualifying for the Grand Prix (22 p.m. French time).

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