Antonelli Shares His Feelings After Crashing Russell's Mercedes In FP1 Session

Friday, 30 August 2024 at 21:38

Mercedes's junior driver Andra Kimi Antonelli spoke out after a big crash during his debut FP1 run in W15 ahead of the 2024 Italian Grand Prix weekend.

Kimi Antonelli wanted to shine in front of his home crowd and left nothing on the table from the start of his first flying lap. Incredibly, he made it to the top of the timing sheets with his first flying lap. However, that wasn't enough for the 18-year-old.

As Antonelli went on for his second-ever flying lap in Mercedes' 2024 F1 car, his sector times were even better, but he probably pushed too much and lost the rear of his car in the iconic final corner of the Monza Circuit named Parabolica.

Crucially, Kimi Antonneli was okay, but all his media commitments were canceled because he felt dizzy after his crash. However, he later participated in the F2 Qualifying session, where he placed in P6.

Mercedes later sent a video to media where the Italian driver summarized his feelings after his debut day in 2024 F1 car on Grand Prix weekend.

"What a day. First FP1 done. Unfortunately it ended quite quickly because of the crash. It was quite a big one, around 52G. Really sorry to the team and George for making them work afterwards."

Kimi Antonelli driving Goerge Russell's Mercedes W15 through the first two corners at Monza Circuit.

Kimi Antonelli in Mercedes before crashing in FP1 at Monza

Although George Russell did very well to keep a poker face as the camera's attention turned to him following Antonelli's crash, he probably wouldn't have been very happy knowing it would take quite some time for his car to be fixed.

The 26-year-old then missed a major part of the FP2 session. As he finally went out on the track, Kevin Magnussen triggered a red flag, which meant he had even less running.

All in all, Russell said he completed only three flying laps on the first day before qualifying, which isn't a lot, but he still managed to set the sixth-fastest time with the very little running that he had. Antonelli continued:

"Just a mistake by my side, just pushing a bit too much for the conditions. I should have built the run a bit more progressively, but definitely lesson learned for next time."

"Still really thankful to the team for making this possible, and still great to see all the tifosi out there, and to get the first laps with all the drivers on track."

"Not feeling super well at the moment, just going to go back and try to rest, and try to focus for the rest of the weekend, because there's still some races to go, and we're going to still try to get a good result."