Kimi Antonelli’s first words after Azerbaijan GP qualifying crash

Formula 1 championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli says his crash in qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was “unnecessary”, as he explained what happened.

The Italian comes into Saturday’s race in Baku 81 points clear in the championship battle, following back-to-back wins at Monza and Madrid.

But he will be forced into a recovery driver from 16th on the grid after suffering a costly crash in Q1 at the first corner.

Kimi Antonelli tagged the barrier on the inside of the corner and damaged his front left tyres and suspension.

He was ordered to stop in a safe place by Mercedes.

“I’m very mad about it”

Speaking to Sky F1 after the session, Antonelli says the amount of grip he had in that moment caught him out, which meant he turned into the first corner sharper than expected.

“Yeah, for sure the grip was coming up very quickly, lap by lap,” he began.

“Obviously I turned in, and suddenly I had a lot more front end compared to the lap before, and unfortunately I touched the wall.

“So, a mistake from my side. Very unnecessary, to be fair. I’m very mad about it. We’ll try to recover tomorrow.”

Antonelli’s qualifying error comes as team-mate and nearest title rival George Russell has been on electric form throughout the Baku weekend.

He carried that forward into qualifying, claiming pole by almost 0.9s from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

“I mean, the car has been very strong this weekend,” Antonelli added.

“George has been doing incredibly well, but we will try our best tomorrow to recover as many places as possible.”

McLaren’s Lando Norris already believes Antonelli can recover to second in Saturday’s Baku race from 16th on the grid.

At the Italian Grand Prix, he came from 19th after an engine penalty to claim an unlikely victory on home soil.

Mercedes had previously been considering giving Russell an engine penalty at Baku because of its opportunities for overtaking, before delaying it to coincide with an ADUO upgrade.