Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Hungaroring, 2025

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was frustrated by his early exit from qualifying as he said he feels more confident in his Mercedes this weekend.

The rookie driver has been happier with his W16’s balance since the team reverted a suspension change which they introduced earlier in the season.

Antonelli was eliminated in the first round of qualifying in both sessions at Spa last weekend, but made the cut for Q2 today. However he went no further after making a mistake at the first corner and dropping out in last place in Q2, over six tenths of a second away from making the cut.

“On the last lap I had no rear end,” Antonelli explained. “The grip was completely gone already at turn one.

“I had a massive slide and then it just went worse and worse during the lap. I really don’t know what to say, obviously it’s quite annoying because the confidence was good and just once again things didn’t go our way.”

However he remains convinced the changes the team have made to the car have improved it.

“Definitely the car was better and it gave me confidence, which was nice,” he said. “That’s why today is very annoying because definitely the pace was there and it’s just a shame that we weren’t able to show it.”

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Antonelli was over 1.1 seconds slower than team mate George Russell in Q2. There was only a tenth of a second between them in Q1, though Antonelli was still down in 13th place.

Russell went on to qualify fourth on the grid. He has now out-qualified Antonelli 13 times in 14 grands prix so far this season, only failing to do so at the Miami Grand Prix three months ago.

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