MIAMI, Florida — Regardless of beginning in pole place, the Dash race didn’t go Kimi Antonelli’s method on the System 1 Miami Grand Prix.
However the younger Mercedes phenom simply put himself ready to ship even larger factors tomorrow.
Whereas Antonelli misplaced the lead within the F1 Dash race to Oscar Piastri in Flip 1, in the end settling for a seventh-place end, the Mercedes rookie delivered his greatest Grand Prix qualifying results of his F1 profession later within the day, qualifying third behind solely pole-sitter Max Verstappen, and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Antonelli mentioned on Friday he was over the moon together with his pole place. Talking Saturday after qualifying he informed the media simply how “joyful” he was to bounce again after a “disappointing” begin to the day.
“Yeah, I imply, this weekend goes effectively to date. Was a bit disappointing this morning, but it surely was good to bounce again this manner and yeah, I struggled a bit bit throughout the quali,” mentioned Antonelli within the FIA Press Convention. “I didn’t have such a clear run like I had yesterday. However yeah, that final lap was fairly good. I used to be a bit too grasping in Flip 1 beginning the lap, however the remainder of the lap was fairly good, so I’m proud of it.”
Past being proud of the outcomes, Antonelli set forth that he was rising happier with the W16, the crew’s challenger for the 2025 season.
“Undoubtedly,” started Antonelli when requested if he was happier within the automobile.
“I imply, each weekend is studying and expertise and extra confidence with the automobile as effectively. So actually, actually proud of how each weekend I’m extra in a position to play much more with the automobile and making an attempt to discover the restrict as effectively,” continued the younger driver. “To this point this weekend I felt actually good within the automobile. In order that’s undoubtedly a optimistic. And hopefully tomorrow we are able to do a superb race.”
Pressed on a “goal” for the Grand Prix Antonelli demurred, however made it clear he simply needs to have a “good tempo within the race” on Sunday.
“I don’t actually need to say as a result of it at all times goes terribly incorrect! So I’m simply going attempt to have a superb begin after which attempt to set a superb tempo and stick with Max and Lando,” mentioned Antonelli.
“It’s not going to be simple in fact, however we’ll see, initially, how’s the climate, as a result of there are some thunderstorms in all probability, so that may not be very nice,” continued the driving force. “However yeah, let’s simply see how the climate goes to be after which we’ll attempt to do our greatest with what we’ve. Undoubtedly additionally in FP1 we did fairly a future, so we have been in a position to accumulate good knowledge on the dry and hopefully we are able to have a superb tempo within the race.”
What could be a scary thought for the remainder of the grid is that that is simply Antonelli’s sixth F1 race and his first time on the Miami Grand Prix.
Quickly the calendar shifts to Europe, the place he has far more expertise.
“There’s nonetheless room for enchancment, however yeah, I really feel higher and higher within the automobile each weekend,” added Antonelli. “So hopefully after this weekend, we’re going to European tracks, tracks that I do know effectively, and hopefully I can preserve the identical tempo and even go sooner.”
Think about that.
