After finishing P9 in FP1, Antonelli went on to take P1 in the sprint qualifying later on in the day from championship leader Oscar Piastri by 0.045 seconds, becoming the youngest ever F1 driver to sit on pole, and the first time this season out qualifying his team mate, George Russell, who qualified 5th place, a little over three tenths of a second behind the Italian Rookie.
Unfortunately, Antonelli was unable to convert his pole into a win, after an incident packed sprint race however was still praised by Martin Brundle after managing to avoid a major pit lane incident after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was released from the pit box, running into Antonelli who was able to swiftly correct his steering to avoid spinning into his pitlane mechanics. Previous to this incident, when the race eventually began after a red flag due to heavy rain, Antonelli ran off the track in turn one after trying to hold the lead from Piastri, however claimed to be pushed off by Oscar, yet the stewards decided no further investigation was necessary, resulting in Antonelli bringing the car back in P10, two positions out of the points.
After qualifying P3 after the eventful sprint race, Antonelli kept position in Sunday’s race going into the first corner before taking advantage of Lando Norris running wide in turn two and took P2, putting pressure on Verstappen before Jack Doohan’s puncture bought out an early virtual safety car after making contact with Liam Lawson.
Sitting 1.4 seconds behind the race leader by lap 4, Antonelli was overtaken by Piastri pushing Kimi back to his qualifying position, P3 before being taken by Mclaren’s Lando Norris, dropping off the last podium position after brilliant defending from Antonelli, keeping Norris at bay for a lap and a half.
Antonelli emerged P9 with the hard tyre on after an early slow pit stop, possibly due to Kimi picking up a flat spot on his tyre, before battling with Alex Albon who was released just behind Antonelli after a pit stop a lap later, however managing to hold P8. Come lap 28, Antonelli set the fastest lap of the race, making time on the Ferrari if Lewis Hamilton before another virtual safety car was put out, sending most of the pack into the pits, sending Kimi up to P5, before being pressured by Alex Albon, which caused Antonelli to lock up and send the car slightly wide, dropping back down to P6, ultimately finishing the race, three places down from where he qualified however the only rookie to finish, after car failures from Bortoleto and Bearman with Doohan leaving early after a collision with Lawson, who eventually had to retire his car due to the damages caused by the crash.
Both the F1 and F2 championships next race will be around Imola on the 16th – 18th of May.
Image: Mercedes AMG
