Kimi Antonelli was eliminated from Q1 on his F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix. It is not the start Mercedes would have expected from their young talent.
The Italian has big shoes to fill in 2025 as he replaces seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton at the Silver Arrows. Being the youngest driver on the grid at 18, he will be under pressure to perform.
But Antonelli is not thinking about Hamilton this season as he sees himself as the next Mercedes driver rather than the F1 legend’s replacement. He is keen to get stuck in and make an impression in 2025.
The Brackley-based outfit would have gone into Melbourne with optimism. GPS data placed Mercedes second behind McLaren after pre-season testing, which would have been a confidence boost going into the season opener.
George Russell used the performance of the W16 to put his car P4 for the Grand Prix behind the McLarens and Max Verstappen.
But teammate Antonelli could not reach Q2 – and Mercedes have announced the reason for his exit.
Mercedes announced Kimi Antonelli suffered damage to the front section of the underbody in Q1 at Australian Grand Prix
Antonelli managed a best time of 1:16:525 in Q1. Mercedes had completed their first run on the medium compound tyre rather than the soft.
When the Italian switched to the soft, he went onto the gravel trap at turn six. Many noticed sparks flying from the bottom of his W16 as he rejoined the track
Martin Brundle described it via Sky Sports as a ‘major problem’ – Mercedes could not make alterations to the underbody of Antonelli’s car due to parc ferme regulations.
The 18-year-old went back out for one final lap when he set his best time. Sitting on the edge of elimination, he was eventually knocked out by the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto.
Shortly after the end of Q1, journalist Tobias Gruner reported via Auto Motor und Sport that Mercedes ‘announced that the front section of the underbody’ was damaged in Antonelli’s off at turn six. This ultimately cost the rookie an appearance in Q2.
Mercedes ‘quantified’ Kimi Antonelli lost three tenths per lap with the damage to his car
As per the Italian edition of Motorsport.com, Mercedes later revealed that Antonelli was losing ‘three tenths of a second of performance’ per lap with the damage to the underbody.
Without the issue, the Italian should have definitely made it into Q2. Bortoleto’s time in Q1 was only nine thousandths of a second quicker than the Mercedes.
READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats
Speaking after qualifying, Antonelli stated that his issue on the soft tyre ‘shouldn’t have happened’ as he struggled to find performance. With his Saturday debut in F1 ‘compromised’, the 18-year-old has it all to do in the Grand Prix.
“We talked about it yesterday, at 6 there is a lot of gravel,” he said. “And today when I passed there the bottom broke, it was dragging on the ground and I was losing on the straights,
“I was losing a lot of load and unfortunately that’s how it went. Maybe starting the qualifications with the Softs would have been better. But what happened with the Softs shouldn’t have happened and it compromised my qualification”.
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