Kimi Antonelli came very close to pole position in the qualifying session for the Spanish Formula 1 GP, but saw Lando Norris secure first place on his last attempt. The Mercedes driver finished second, while George Russell took sixth position.
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Antonelli stated that he believed he had done a lap good enough to take the lead, but acknowledged the performance of Norris and McLaren: “I did a strong lap on my last attempt and thought it could have been good enough for pole. Credit to Lando, he and McLaren did a great job and managed to take it from us at the last moment,” he said.
The Italian highlighted that the session was particularly difficult due to the heat on the track, and the need to keep the tires in the ideal window throughout the lap. For the race, he hopes to put pressure on Norris, although he recognizes that overtaking will be complicated. Tire management should also be one of the central points of the contest.
Russell had more difficulties extracting the car’s potential. After a good lap in Q1, the British driver could not repeat the performance in Q3 and lost time mainly from turn 11, where he suffered from understeer: “The tires really suffer here with the heat and the long corners, so you can end up sliding, losing more time and being pushed down the order,” he explained.
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Toto Wolff considered the result positive, especially because Mercedes did not initially expect to fight for pole. The team principal said that the pace shown throughout the weekend created the expectation of an opportunity for first place, but Norris managed to produce ‘the lap of the weekend so far’ at the decisive moment.
Wolff also explained that Russell never felt completely comfortable with the car, leading the team to gradually increase the front wing to try to give the driver more confidence. For the race, the manager expects a tough battle due to the few overtaking opportunities, but believes that the unknowns involving the tires and the behavior of the cars could provide an eventful race.
Read more F1: Antonelli says he believed he had taken pole in Spain
