Andrea Kimi Antonelli Reveals 'Mentally Really Hard' Week After Monza

Chris Ladd | Sep 13, 2024

2024 Spanish Grand Prix, Thursday / LAT Images

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has had a mentally tough few weeks according to a report by GPBlog. On Friday the Italian driver came 0.017s short of his first pole position in Azerbaijan's Formula 2 qualifying. He finished a close second to Richard Verschoor and secured a spot on the front row for the second occasion 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's performance in Baku was remarkable, particularly as it marked his first appearance there. It appears the weight of expectation has lifted from the young Italian's shoulders. His Formula 1 debut with Mercedes during the first practice session at Monza was cut short by an accident. However, the announcement of his official role as a Mercedes driver for the 2025 season on Saturday seems to have alleviated the pressure.

"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's junior career has been remarkable, swiftly climbing the ranks. He secured the ADAC and Italian F4 championships in 2022, followed by triumphing in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2023. As a Mercedes junior, he bypassed F3 and made his entry into F2 with PREMA in the current season.

He has achieved victories in two races and currently holds the sixth position in the championship standings. The 18-year-old racer has been juggling his F2 commitments with a testing program that involves older-specification F1 cars from Mercedes. In the 2025 season, he is set to join George Russell as a teammate at Mercedes, taking over from Lewis Hamilton.