Andrea Kimi Antonelli described his recovery drive to finish in the top five at Las Vegas “redemption” after his poor performance in qualifying.

The Mercedes driver was eliminated in the first round of qualifying in Las Vegas and started the race 17th. He moved up to 13th due to the multi-car crash at the start, then pitted under the subsequent Virtual Safety Car period.

From there he ran to the end of the race on a set of hard tyres, soaking up pressure from Oscar Piastri. A five-second time penalty for a jump start dropped him to fifth place behind the McLaren in the original classification.

“I was really, really happy with that,” said Antonelli after the race, admitting he had doubts about his 48-lap stint on hard tyres.

“I think the strategy was very risky. I was a bit concerned halfway through the race because the graining started to appear and I wasn’t so sure I would have been able to make it to the end.

“But then I got the team radio that we were moving to ‘plan B’, so the plan was to finish with that set. I was just trying to manage the best way possible and eventually the graining started to clean up and the time just kept coming and coming and we were able to keep Oscar and Charles [Leclerc] behind.

“Of course the penalty was a bit unlucky, I lost the fourth place, but it was still a strong result today.”

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The result improved for Antonelli after the race when the disqualification of the two McLarens promoted him to third.

Despite his setback in qualifying, Antonelli says he’s been gaining confidence in Mercedes’ car and he was pleased to prove it by rebounding to finish third.

“Definitely the feeling is getting better and better in the car,” he said. “I’ve been enjoying quite a lot lately, driving the car. It’s been, obviously, after Brazil, good momentum.

“Of course [qualifying] was a big shame. I was very disappointed, but today was redemption. I just need to now focus on the next two and I really want to finish on a high.”

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