Intense weeks for Antonelli after Mercedes announcement: 'Mentally very tough'

In qualifying for the Formula 2 race in Azerbaijan, Antonelli just missed out on pole position. The Italian is behind Richard Verschoor and will start from second place in the feature race for the second time in his F2 career.

"A bit disappointed," Antonelli said after qualifying. "Second was good but of course P2 for such a small gap is always a bit frustrating but I think it was a good session. I managed to build up lap by lap and managed to secure a good lap on the second set of tyres which wasn't easy because obviously the red flag came out pretty early on during the first push so it broke the rhythm a bit."

Antonelli relieved after the Mercedes announcement

An impressive result for Antonelli, especially considering it was his first time in Baku. The pressure seems off the young Italian's shoulders. At Monza, he made his F1 debut for Mercedes in FP1, but a crash quickly put an end to that. On Saturday, though, Antonelli was announced as a Mercedes driver for 2025, so the pressure is off his shoulders.

"Monza was not a really nice weekend. On the mental side it was really hard. But it was a good relief to have the announcement finally official. It's been two busy weeks because I'm already trying to work closely with Mercedes to understand and just to learn few things. I’m also going to do some track side [work] in the future just to see how a full race weekend works. It's been a pretty intense two weeks, but now I feel much better on the mental side that the announcement is finally official," Antonelli revealed when asked by GPblog.com.

This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton