Penalty incoming?
There was no shortage of thrills again today in qualifying for Kimi Antonelli. If in Australia, in the GP qualifying, the Italian had to drive without a dedicated setup after the accident in FP3, this time in the Chinese Sprint qualifying the problem arrived in SQ2 for an alleged impeding against Lando Norris. The Mercedes driver in fact ‘blocked’ – unintentionally, but quite clearly – the McLaren of the reigning world champion in turn 1 and was summoned by the stewards to explain the incident. The risk is a three-position grid penalty. Antonelli, however, interviewed by Sky Sport F1 after qualifying, said he was convinced he was not destined to receive any penalty.
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Antonelli’s version
“Impeding on Norris? In the end I would say no, because I was doing the preparation lap, so he was warming up the tires. We have already seen the data, he arrived almost 30 km slower, so he was not on a flying lap. He was warming up the tires, so I believe nothing will happen“, the #12 stated. The Bolognese then commented with some regret on the outcome of this first qualifying of the weekend: “I struggled a bit with understeer in qualifying and especially in turn 1 I struggle to carry speed – Antonelli admitted – and then I made a mistake in the last sector and lost a lot there. But tomorrow I will be on the front row and there is everything to play for in the Sprint and then again in qualifying”.
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