Kimi Antonelli reveals Dutch GP sprint qualifying off left him with "holes in the floor"

Kimi Antonelli battled with damage in sprint qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix

21 Aug 2026

Antonelli suffered heavy damage during an off in SQ1
© XPB Images

Kimi Antonelli has revealed the extent of the damage he suffered after going off the track in the first phase of sprint qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Formula 1 championship leader will start Saturday's sprint race from fifth on the grid after battling for the majority of sprint qualifying with significant floor damage.

An off at the penultimate corner during his first timed effort saw Antonelli skate across the unforgiving gravel before returning to the pits so the team could make a quick assessment of the damage to his floor.

Despite comfortably reaching the top 10 and ending the day 0.227s shy of his pole-sitting team-mate George Russell, the Italian was quick to reveal what had been holding him back.

Antonelli took a trip through the gravel in SQ1

"I had a couple of holes in the floor [after the off]," he told Sky Sports.

"So when I came in, they initially said it was a loss of 25 points. They tried to repair as much as possible, but the damage was still there. I was struggling a lot at low speed. It is what it is."

Taking responsibility for the off itself, he added: "There was a little bit too much entry speed in the last corner in that lap one, and I lost the rear and went through the gravel. That was pretty much it.

"Obviously, it was not easy to build the confidence back, but still decently close, and we'll have another go tomorrow.

"We'll try to do the best race we can. Obviously, it's very close at the front, so it's not going to be easy to overtake, but we'll try to do the best we can, even with the damage. Then from qualifying, we're going to tidy the car up and go again."

Reflecting on the session, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said of Antonelli's problems: "We lost 20 points with a hole in the floor for Kimi, but we managed to patch it up, and it looked like it was completely intact afterwards.

"It's so close, the gaps are so tiny, and he made a little bit of a mistake into turn 11, pushing it too hard on the entry, and it [the time] can go quickly.