Antonelli left frustrated after costly Austrian GP opening laps

Antonelli rues early Austrian GP mistakes

Kimi Antonelli admitted his Austrian Grand Prix was compromised almost immediately after a ragged opening two laps left the Formula 1 championship leader fighting back from avoidable losses at the Red Bull Ring.

That sequence also brought Max Verstappen into play, with the Red Bull driver capitalising to demote Antonelli to fifth by the second lap. For a driver who had shown formidable pace earlier in the weekend, it was a costly and visibly frustrating opening phase.

Strong pace, but execution falls short

Antonelli had been fastest in both Friday practice sessions and held provisional pole in qualifying before aborting his final lap, believing Verstappen’s late crash had triggered double-waved yellow flags. The flags were only single-waved, allowing Russell to complete the lap that secured pole. Antonelli conceded he would likely have been second, having been a tenth behind Russell before abandoning the attempt.

“It was a weekend where I started very strong and I think because of that I kind of lowered the intensity a bit too much,” Antonelli said. “Coming to qualifying I just felt a bit tense driving wise. Was still up there, but I felt like I wasn't driving that well and not as free.”

He added: “Starting from P4, first two laps were really bad for me and then I really struggled with the brakes and I just lost a lot of time because I started to do mistakes. Then the second stint was a bit better and third stint was really, really strong, the pace was there, but of course fell a bit short.”

Wolff sees a learning moment

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff pointed directly to the opening corners as the decisive phase of Antonelli’s race.

“The first few corners, this is where the race got lost,” Wolff said. “Full attack mode, missing braking in Turn 1, missing braking in Turn 3, missing braking in Turn 4.”

Wolff framed both the race start and qualifying yellow-flag error as part of Antonelli’s development, saying such moments are unlikely to be repeated. Antonelli still leads Russell by 40 points, but Austria was a sharp reminder that even with front-running pace, execution remains decisive.