Kimi Antonelli explains Baku accident that has opened F1 title door

Kimi Antonelli has explained the sequence of events which led to his accident in Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying, which has slightly opened the title door for George Russell.

During Q1 in Baku, Antonelli clipped the inside wall of Turn 1, and although his time was enough for him to advance through to Q2, he took no part in the segment and will start 16th. 

Antonelli had tried to bring the broken Mercedes back into the pits for running repairs, but was instructed by race engineer Peter Bonnington to pull off, so severe was the damage to the front-left of the W17. 

In contrast, team-mate Russell roared to a dominant pole position, 0.837s faster than Charles Leclerc in second to give the Briton a prime opportunity to eat into the 81-point deficit he has to the Italian, who must now fight through the field to rescue a points score during the 51-lap race.

Reflecting, Antonelli explained how an unexpected level of grip had led to the "misjudgment."

"[In practice], yes, I did miss a lot of laps, but in FP3, I felt good, and it was just a misjudgment to be fair with the grip changing so much," Antonelli told media, including RacingNews365.

"It was unnecessary in Q1, and it is a very good reminder that things like this don't go my way, so I need to do a better job. 

"I had a lot more headwind compared to the lap before, so the front was much stronger, and I turned roughly in at the same spot, but obviously the car turned more, and I clipped the wall. 

"It was very frustrating [to be told to stop]. I tried my best to come in, but they told me the damage was too big, so I had to bail out, which is even more annoying because I thought they could obviously repair it, as the lap was still okay to get through. 

"But unfortunately, it was not possible, so we will reset and move on

"It's been very interrupted; I missed three-quarters of FP1 and FP2, so then you just don't get into the rhythm, but obviously, I made a mistake, so it is also on my side, but I definitely wasn't 100% there.

The article continues below. 

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Antonelli mad

Speaking further on the incident, Antonelli called the error "very unnecessary" and said he was "very mad" about his first big error since crashing in FP3 in Australia, the season-opener.

"The grip was coming up very quickly, lap-by-lap," Antonelli explained to Sky Sports F1. 

"So I turned in and sadly had a lot more front end compared to the lap before, and touched the wall.

"It is is a mistake from my side, it is very unnecessary. 

"To be fair, I am very mad about it and will try to do better [in the race].

"The car has been very strong this weekend, and George has been doing incredibly well, so we will try our best [on Saturday], to recover as many places as is possible."