The Italian teenager was somewhat unlucky to start the race in P4 in the Styrian hills, believing he was under double waved yellow flags in sector three during Saturday’s Qualifying after Max Verstappen’s late crash in Q3.
Perhaps too keen to make up for a more lowly Qualifying position than he’s been used to, Antonelli was off the track twice in the opening stages at the Red Bull Ring. The 19-year-old also just missed out on a cheap pit stop under the VSC on two occasions in Austria – boxing moments before both incidents involving Williams drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.
When asked to reflect on the weekend as a whole, having topped the timing charts in FP1 and FP2 on Friday, Antonelli admitted to having “lowered the intensity” in the build up to the crucial sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
Antonelli rues costly mistakes at Austrian GP
Photo: Race Pictures
Speaking to media, including GPblog, at the post-race press conference, Antonelli said: “Yeah, 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 and coming to qualifying, I just felt a bit tense, driving wise. We’re still up there, but I felt like I wasn’t driving that well and not as great.”
On his unlucky Qualifying result, Antonelli said: “The last lap, it went like that, but I was a tenth behind George, so it probably would have been P2, very close but P2.
“But of course it went like that, and obviously starting from P4, first lap, first two laps were really bad for me, and then I really struggled with brakes and I just lost a lot of time because I started to do mistakes. But yeah, then 2nd stint was a bit better and then 3rd stint was really, really strong, the pace was just there, but of course fell a bit short.”
Asked more specifically on the race, Antonelli pinpointed where he missed out on the chance to challenge Russell for the win. He said: “Well, the, the whole first stint, I think at the end of the first stint I did a couple of mistakes and I lost probably one second, one and a half seconds, each lap, because one time I went off, almost went off in turn 4, one lap I went off in turn 3, so I lost a lot of time.
“I think it’s easy to say now, the mistakes were made and, definitely, without them, probably I could have had the chance to fight for P2 or even P1, but of course, easy to say now and need to make sure they don’t happen again.”