Andrea Kimi Antonelli notes the late mistake in F1 Qatar GP, as Toto Wolff is upset after barrage of abuse, which forces apology from Red Bull.
It was opposite starts for Mercedes pair in F1 Qatar GP when Antonelli gained places, teammate George Russell dropped back. The Italian was up to fourth, with the Brit in eighth. The former lost another place after pit stop to be fifth, while the latter got stuck in a DRS train.
There was nothing more either could do. Antonelli was stuck behind Carlos Sainz in fifth but it became a fight for third when McLaren got their strategy wrong and Lando Norris ended up behind. The Italian closed in on the Spaniard, but had to defend from the Brit as well.
The pressure resulted in a mistake which allowed Norris through, as Antonelli had to be content with fifth. Russell, meanwhile, was sixth in the end after managing to clear Fernando Alonso early on and Isack Hadjar eventually facing late dramas to move out of the way.
The Brit was surprised by the pace on the last two laps when he could drive in the clean air. But the controversy happened after the race when Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase suggested that Antonelli moved out of the way of Norris to hand him the position.
Likewise Helmut Marko added the same after the race. This resulted in heavy barrage of abuse against Antonelli on social media. Team boss Wolff was not happy with the situation. He lamented the statements from Marko, while revealed meet with Lambiase after the race.
The Austrian said Lambiase apologised for his oversight. Marko did the same a day later when Red Bull released a statement against abuse. The FIA echoed the same, with reports suggesting Mercedes taking the matter with the governing body under the ‘United against Abuse’ campaign.
Reports also suggested that Antonelli changed his Instagram profile picture to black after abuse. But it is unclear if he did then as there is a likelihood that he changed it early in the weekend. The Italian, however, hasn’t posted anything about the grand prix on his social media channel.
Here: https://x.com/DarshanChokhani/status/1995527645858353487?s=20
Race –
Antonelli: “Yeah. It was an intense race, again, dictated by dirtier track positioning. I think what really compromised the race was, in the pit stop of having to hold into the box to avoid any unsafe releases because everyone was coming in. And obviously, so early on into the race with the pack being so close, we were unfortunate because we had to hold and so then I lost a place to Carlos and then the stint two, just with the medium was a bit concerned because some graining started to appear and just staying in those two seconds, but really hard to get close and then with the hard, I was pushing quite a lot and eventually I was getting to DRS, but then in Turn 9 I had a massive moment and almost crashed. So just then I went off track and lost the place to a Lando, which was very annoying. Very difficult [for podium]. I mean, we were gaining quite a lot on Carlos and we were quite a bit stronger in the last sector. So definitely with two laps to go, we had DRS in that lap and then probably would have had a shot in the last lap. But yeah, just again, it didn’t happen because didn’t have the chance.”
Russell: “Well, just the inside of the track is, yeah, much less grip than the left. So I just made a made a poor start, as most people on the right did. And then just got a bit caught out at Turn 2, lost the rear and lost another position in the pit stop. So, spent 55 laps stuck behind a car, couldn’t even be with DRS and Hadjar. And then when he got the puncture, I found a second a lap with the quickest car on track in the last two laps. So, I was absolutely shocked because I thought maybe I had one or two tenths pace advantage over Isack, but it was like a second. We said this morning in the strategy meeting, if there’s a safety car on lap seven, that would become an extremely boring race. Because it’s 57 lap race, you do a two stop, 25, and seven laps. And that’s exactly what happened. So you couldn’t have written it if you tried. And unfortunately it did make it a really boring race. This track is without doubt one of the very best to drive at. It’s so fun, it’s so fast, it’s so grippy, but it’s impossible to overtake.”
Wolff: “When George was in free air, he did a 23.2, a second quicker than before. With these cars now, at the end of their life, you need the free air to perform. The moment you’re in a jam, the moment you’re in a traffic jam, the turbulences get so bad that your performance drops, the tyre drops, and you have no chance to recover. And that’s why I believe we had a fast car, qualifying showed that. We had a fast car in the sprint race, and I think we had a fast car today. But when you lose positions on the pit stop, and you make mistakes in the race, obviously that’s not going to help. I think if you start in free air, you fight in the front.”
What happened in the end, strong reactions –
Antonelli: “I need to check. I went in a bit quicker than the lap before. Obviously with dirty air, the car is more unpredictable because you have less downforce and the tyres overheat more. But I went in a bit quicker and just lost the rear all of a sudden. I didn’t expect it. And obviously, at such a high speed, I went off track and then the next corner, with picking up all the dirt, I had a massive moment again and went off track again. So just need to look into detail, but it was pretty annoying. Yeah, definitely. I felt I was comfortable because again, he came with so much more pace, but then again in dirty air is just couldn’t get past. And, so I was pretty comfortable because he was even out of DRS for a couple of laps. So just, yeah, I felt I could have hold him. But yeah, just did a mistake.”
Wolff: “Bless him, Helmut. This is total utter nonsense that blows my mind even to hear that. We are fighting for P2 in the championship, which is important for us. Kimi is fighting for potential P3. I mean, how brainless can you be to even say something like this? And it annoys me because I’m annoyed with the race itself, how it went. I’m annoyed with the mistake at the end. I’m annoyed with other mistakes. And then hearing such nonsense blows my mind. The other thing is that, beyond losing the points for Constructor Championship, I spoke to GP [Max Verstappen’s race engineer]. I saw him and obviously he was emotional in that moment because they needed a P3, I guess, to win the championship or P4, I don’t know, but one position.
“Now they need more. And I said to him, he would just wind off. He had a bit of a moment in the previous corner and then had less entry speed into that left-hander, put the gas down and at that moment, which can happen, that lost the position. So with GP everything is clear. He said he didn’t see the situation. Why would we do this? Why would we even think about interfering in a driver championship? I mean, you really need to check yourself whether you see ghosts. Yeah, I think it’s okay [drive]. Yeah, I said to GP that there’s quite a social media storm. That’s what Brady [Mercedes comms head] told me. And GP said, sorry if I caused that, I didn’t see the incident.”
Battling up front –
Antonelli: “Yeah, definitely. I think overall the second half of the season has been much stronger and we’ve been fighting more often at the front, which is exciting and we’ve shown the pace. I think in Vegas we were super quick. In Brazil, we were able to hold on. And so I think, we can be happy, but of course there’s a lot of room to improve and to work on. And yeah, just need to keep the momentum and yeah, just finish the year on a high and then 2026 will start.
McLaren strategy, title scene –
Wolff: “Everybody tries to do their best. We discussed it this morning. It’s a super boring strategy. If you have a safety car at that stage, you have no choice than to take it. Because if you don’t, you lose a full safety car stop. There’s another pit stop you have to do. I think what they were thinking is to have more flexibility. But it was on the losing end that stopped. So why that is, I don’t know. But clearly, we’ve been in this position. It’s more theirs to lose than Max’s to win. It’s always easier to come from the back. If he were to win the championship, that would be an incredible comeback. Still, the probabilities are quite low when you look at the position.
“But I guess pressure creeps in and you want to do it extra well. And I think if you want to do it extra well, then I can only say from us, you need to stay in your modus operandi, that you know. Did they have the gap for a double stack? So it could have been a double stack, yeah. What we’ve done with Nico and Lewis several times, you just need to create the gap between the cars to allow that. So I’m not sure what was the case, I didn’t look at it in detail. And I think the mentality of keeping the fight open between the two is clearly their policy. Zak said before, or Andrea, that if you lose a championship, but you played it fairly between the two, it’s the opposition that you can have.”
Here’s apology from Marko + Red Bull and FIA: “I’ve looked at the footage again very carefully. The first time, Antonelli could have put up a bit more of a fight. The second time, it was a driving error and not intentional. I’m sorry that Antonelli got so much hate online. To make it perfectly clear: He didn’t let Norris past intentionally.”
Here’s how F1 Qatar GP panned out
