Andrea Kimi Antonelli rued starting on the dirty side which cost him a place in F1 Singapore GP, but he hung on to regain, as he expands on bad qualifying.
It was not the start that Mercedes’ Antonelli was hoping for in F1 Singapore GP when he lost the place to Charles Leclerc at Turn 2, having started on the dirty side. It hurt the Italian’s run up and Lando Norris ahead only made things tough for the rookie against the Monegasque.
He didn’t lose on Leclerc for the remainder of the race. But he only got the chance to pass him in the second stint after a strong move. It was not over as Ferrari opted to pit Lewis Hamilton for an aggressive push to the end and the Brit almost had the Italian, but for his brake issues.
Antonelli eventually finished fifth to register some good points to add to George Russell’s win. “Yeah, to be fair, the left-hand side was quite a bit worse than the right-hand side,” he said to media. “We were a bit penalised, because the grip was a bit worse. But my mistake in Turn 1 was trying to hold onto Norris, and then I found myself way too on the inside, and Leclerc got a much better run on the outside.
“So it was a shame, but the pace in the race was really strong. So that’s a positive, and we try to carry that into the next few races. He [Leclerc] also with tyres, he started to struggle. He was really pushing. And so I was trying to play the long game, trying to save my tyres and really trying to find the right moment to attack.
“And I felt when we were approaching the traffic of the back markers, I felt that was the best moment, because he was in clean air and I was in dirty air, and I was still able to hold onto him. I knew that he would start to struggle once he gets into the dirty air as well. So that was good timing,” summed up Antonelli, who expanded on his qualifying troubles which cost him a chance to finish higher up.
He felt the pace was solid all-weekend long, but a moment of over-excitement cost him in Q3 and a potential podium chance. “The pace has been strong, qualifying has been better and better,” continued Antonelli. “I was bit disappointed with qualifying because I felt I just over-drove, if I would have controlled myself a little bit more and tried to do clean laps, it would have been different story.
“I would have started a bit forward and it probably would have been a different race, but of course it is easy to say now, we try to improve the next time,” summed up Antonelli, as team boss Toto Wolff concurred with the Italian on his qualifying issue which cost him a chance to be higher up. But the Austrian was pleased with his driving in the race and the move on Leclerc.
“Kimi is also one that always sees the grass half empty,” said Wolff to media. “And what he will see is a Q3 that didn’t go to plan that could have put him in the first row. And a start in Turn 1 that wasn’t so good. That’s at least his honest feedback after the race. For him it’s more like a front position that was lost rather than a P5 that was won.
“But solid delivery, the manoeuvre of Leclerc was strong. He wasn’t caught by the cameras but we could see on the telemetry a huge braking event, that there was so much pressure in the system that he started to oscillate. So yeah, that was good. Maybe that’s a bit comforting after the other parts of the race,” summed up Wolff.
Here’s race start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-singapore-grand-prix-russell-leads-as-norris-jumps-up-to-p3-on-the-race-start.1845144149468310790
Here’s George Russell on Singapore GP win
Here’s how F1 Singapore GP panned out
