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Kimi Antonelli recovered to fifth on the grid for the Dutch Grand Prix sprint after an error at Turn 13 damaged his Mercedes floor and cost an estimated 25 points of downforce.
The championship leader was quicker than team-mate George Russell during the opening phase of sprint qualifying when the car snapped into oversteer through the penultimate corner. Antonelli kept the Mercedes pointing in the correct direction, but ran into the gravel and lost the lap.
That left him eighth in SQ1, nearly 0.7 seconds away from Charles Leclerc’s benchmark. He progressed through the remaining stages, but the damage continued to affect the car. Antonelli ultimately qualified fifth in SQ3, more than 0.2s behind Russell, who secured sprint pole in an exceptionally tight session.
Antonelli said Mercedes initially estimated the incident had removed approximately 25 points of downforce. The team repaired part of the floor before the session resumed, restoring some of the lost load, but the car remained compromised, particularly in slower corners.
“I had a couple of holes in the floor,” Antonelli told Sky Sports F1. “So when I came in, they initially said it was a loss of 25 points. Then they tried to repair as much as possible, but yeah, definitely the damage was still there.”
He acknowledged that excessive entry speed had contributed to the mistake and admitted that rebuilding confidence after the incident was difficult.
“I had a little bit too much entry speed in the last corner in that lap one and lost the rear and went through the gravel,” he said. “And then obviously also was not easy to build the confidence back, but still, decently close. And we’ll have another go tomorrow.”
Mercedes chief Toto Wolff put the loss closer to 20 points, but agreed it represented a significant performance hit. A conservative estimate would translate the missing load into roughly half a second per lap, although Antonelli’s repaired floor reduced the full impact.
Antonelli will start Saturday’s 24-lap sprint from the third row, behind Russell and the two McLarens, with Leclerc’s Ferrari splitting the pair. The leading four drivers were separated by less than a tenth in their final qualifying laps, underlining the narrow margins at the front.
With overtaking expected to be difficult at the tight, technical Zandvoort circuit, Antonelli is not expecting an easy route to victory. However, Mercedes should be able to fit a new floor for full qualifying after the sprint, when parc ferme reopens. The team’s Zandvoort upgrades will therefore remain central to its weekend recovery.
“We’ll try to do the best race we can,” Antonelli said. “And then from qualifying, we’re going to tidy the car up and go again. Better luck tomorrow.”
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.