‘Night and Day’ says Kimi Antonelli after British GP sprint qualifying

Mercedes’ championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, has expressed a ‘night and day’ difference during Sprint Qualifying at the British Grand Prix, after missing out on pole position by a hundredth of a second.

Feature image credit: Mercedes F1

Antonelli will start on the front row of the Sprint Grid at Silverstone as the championship leader missed out on the top spot by 0.011 seconds over his predecessor, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.

It marks the second time that a Mercedes has not taken pole position for a sprint race, since the Miami Grand Prix, when McLaren’s Lando Norris pipped Antonelli around the Hard Rock Stadium.

In SQ1, Antonelli could only best seventh fastest, between Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson, in sixth and eighth, respectively. However, after the break going into SQ2, the Italian star was on it, going second fastest behind Hamilton in the successive two-thirds.

The championship leader has said he didn’t feel comfortable in the car during the first third, but expressed it was a ‘night and day difference’ in SQ2 and SQ3. He said:

“Sprint Qualifying was incredibly close and it’s frustrating to miss out on pole by such a small margin. I didn’t feel completely comfortable in the car during SQ1, but then SQ2 felt like night and day difference.

“The balance came to me much more and I was able to get back into the rhythm and show the pace we had.”

Lewis Hamilton credits ‘extra hundredth’ to fans after taking Sprint Pole at British GP

Ferrari, more notably, Hamilton, looks to be Mercedes’ biggest threat around the Silverstone circuit, having taken the fastest lap in the sole practice session and sprint qualifying.

As such, Antonelli suspects they’re in for a ‘real fight’ as others around them have made progress with their cars, but he is still eyeing up the sprint win on Saturday.

“My lap in SQ3 was a solid but Lewis did a great job, so congratulations to him. We can be happy with the progress we made throughout the session and now the focus is fully on tomorrow,” Antonelli continued. “It’s clear that Ferrari, and the rest of the competition, have made a lot of progress so we know we’re in for a real fight.

“That’s exactly the sort of challenge we enjoy though; we have the opportunity to fight for the Sprint win, and we’ll be going for it. We know we have all the ingredients we need to have a strong race and we’ll do everything we can to maximise the result.”

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Lewis Hamilton credits ‘extra hundredth’ to fans after taking Sprint Pole at British GP
• Lando Norris claims damage stopped true pace at British Grand Prix sprint qualifying
• Zak Brown happy with line-up after Max Verstappen McLaren rumours
• Hamilton dominates sprint qualifying to take pole at British Grand Prix
• Hamilton tops sole practice at British Grand Prix
• Mercedes can’t assume their recent performance will continue at British Grand Prix
• Ferrari identified improvements ahead of British Grand Prix

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.