Kimi Antonelli will love how the Mercedes garage reacted to him overtaking ‘infuriated’ Max Verstappen in Bahrain

For the first time in his short Formula 1 career, Andrea Kimi Antonelli didn’t finish in the top 10 on Sunday as he missed out on points at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

It appeared as though Mercedes were on course for another really strong race weekend in Bahrain.

George Russell was expected to start on the front row of the grid alongside Oscar Piastri, with Kimi Antonelli lining up directly behind him after his strongest qualifying performance in Formula 1.

Unfortunately, both drivers were handed a one-place grid penalty for being released too early into the pit lane after Esteban Ocon’s Q2 crash.

It was then a case of two very different race starts, with Russell clearing Charles Leclerc and challenging Piastri into the first corner, while Antonelli got shuffled back a couple of positions.

The Italian ended up pitting on lap 12, which allowed Max Verstappen to pass him despite stopping two laps earlier and Red Bull suffering from pit stop problems.

It led to the first on-track battle between the two drivers since Antonelli’s promotion to Formula 1, and he ended up coming out on top.

READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats

Mercedes garage loved Kimi Antonelli’s move on Max Verstappen at the Bahrain Grand Prix

David Croft and Martin Brundle were commentating on the race for Sky Sports F1 (13/4 4:34 pm) and examined the Italian’s move on the four-time world champion.

Antonelli was on the medium tyres, while Verstappen was trying to deal with the slower hard compound, but was no match for the 18-year-old.

Croft commented: “Verstappen moves over to the inside to cover off Kimi Antonelli, he knew he was coming.

“Antonelli might be coming back at him again, just under three-tenths the current gap, and that gap is diminishing all the time because here comes Antonelli with the aid of DRS, and he’ll hug that apex around turn four, and then a big gap opens up as Verstappen runs wide and almost wheel-to-wheel through the first part of those corners go Antonelli and Verstappen because the young Italian moves ahead.

“He gets a round of applause in the garage, a little shake of approval from Bono, his race engineer.”

LAP 20/57

YES KIMI! 💪 Our Italian rookie puts in a great move to take P7 from Verstappen.

George remains in P2, splitting the two McLarens pic.twitter.com/ZwWeeuU0hJ

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 13, 2025

Brundle simply replied: “That is going to make Max very unhappy indeed, I should say.”

A few moments later, Croft and Brundle elaborated on their point on Verstappen and Antonelli’s battle (13/4 4:38 pm), and the lead commentator explained: “He is not happy tonight at all.”

Brundle continued: “I think I could have just predicted that! To have the 18-year-old literally be like, you go there, I’ll just go around the other side of you, that would have infuriated him.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Mercedes F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Toto Wolff explains Kimi Antonelli’s race of ‘learning’ at the Bahrain Grand Prix

While most drivers pitted twice in Bahrain, Antonelli was caught out by the timing of the safety car, which ultimately cost him points.

He changed his tyres on lap 27, only to follow the rest of the grid into the pit lane five laps later when the safety car was brought out to deal with debris following a collision between Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda.

It left Antonelli outside of the points, and despite making some progress through the midfield, a top 10 finish alluded him.

Oliver Bearman impressed by keeping Antonelli behind him, and he earned the final point of the day despite starting the Grand Prix in last place.

Toto Wolff spoke in his official post-race press conference about Antonelli’s P11 finish and said: “For Kimi, today’s race was one of learning. We opted to take a risk with the strategy, but in hindsight, we may have been better putting him on the hard tyre.

“He also lost positions in his opening two stints, which caused him to push the tyres harder than he would have liked.

“That is all part of the normal learning trajectory, though, and he will bounce back next week in Saudi Arabia.”
Antonelli will be desperate to return to the points again in Saudi Arabia to help Mercedes maintain their second-place position in the constructors’ championship.