For Antonelli 'the pace was there' but: 'This just killed my confidence'

Andrea Kimi Antonelli qualified on P8 behing Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar, which highlighted the difficult qualifying session the Mercedes driver endured, where he saw his confidence 'killed' by the complexity of the 2025 Pirelli compunds. A shame for the Italian driver, since he believes 'the pace was there' in the W16 to score a better result.

"The pace was there, it's just I struggled to find the right balance with the warm up," Antonelli outlined his qualifying woes where he failed to beat Hadjar's time, ultimately finishing the session in 8th. "I struggled to be in the right window in order to strike the maximum grip. That was during the whole session and that created a bit of a mess."

"It also killed a little bit of confidence, because I started the session with good confidence and then I lost it a little bit because I struggled with the warm-up [of the tyres]. But overall, still a decent position for tomorrow," added the Mercedes rookie.

Prior to his F1 debut, Antonelli was used to racing the Pirelli Academy tyres in the feeder series. The Italian sees the step-up in the level of complexity behind the operative window of the Pirelli F1 tyres. "The tyre is completely different, the working range is completely different. The way the tyre works and the way you can use it as well is a lot different."

"So definitely the warm-up is a really big topic and it's really hard to understand it and to find the right balance, that's why there's still work to do on that side," Antonelli added.

After elaborating on the difficulties he had getting the tyres into the optimum window and the impact it had on the W16's behaviour, the Mercedes rookie then points to a mistake he could have done without. "Going off in the last corner, and Q3 didn't help for the last lap, because I left quite a bit of time on the table in that last corner, in the last lap, and probably without that I could have been in a higher position," Antonelli concluded.