Autobayng News Team
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff explained why Andrea Kimi Antonelli complained he had “no battery” at the end of his final flying lap in qualifying.
Antonelli took third on the grid for tomorrow’s race, three tenths of a second behind team mate George Russell.
After taking the chequered flag Antonelli told his race engineer Peter Bonnington: “Mate I had no battery, end of lap.”
Wolff said Antonelli had made a minor error with the timing of his energy use at the end of the lap. “I think he pushed the button maybe a tiny bit too late and it didn’t have the full deployment,” he told Sky. “But it was tiny.”
Bonnington had reminded Antonelli about his timing of the button press prior to his final lap. “Just bring the boost presses a little bit earlier, especially turn 14, boost presses earlier,” he noted.
Russell rebounded from a poor week in Monaco to claim an important pole position as he bids to cut Antonelli’s 68-point lead over him in the championship. Wolff said his driver has rethought his approach to setting up the W17 this weekend.
“I think what George did is that in Miami he wasn’t quick and Kimi was, like last year. Then George said, okay, what is he doing on the other side of the garage?
“They tuned the car mechanically and electronically more to what Kimi did, and that didn’t work for George. After Monaco he came back and said ‘I need to reset, I have to go back what I had at the beginning of the season’ and you see the result.”
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2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix
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Published by
Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine
