A mistake that serves as a lesson
Andrea Kimi Antonelli has Ayrton Senna as his absolute idol, but today in the Zandvoort Sprint he was inspired by Alain Prost. The Italian understood that there was no reason to take excessive risks in the short race in the Netherlands and ‘settled’ for fourth position, even though it was clear that in the last laps his pace was faster than that of Lando Norris ahead of him.
Read more Train problem in Amsterdam: thousands of fans miss the Zandvoort Sprint
Unlike what Charles Leclerc did, however, Antonelli never had a clear overtaking opportunity and on the twisty Zandvoort track the risk of losing points was greater than the advantage gained by gaining a position. Speaking with Sky Sport F1 at the end of the race, the World Championship leader acknowledged that the mistake made yesterday in SQ1 – which compromised his entire session – weighed on the decision to stay calmer today.
Read more 2026 Drivers’ World Championship: the standings after the Sprint at Zandvoort
“Surely what happened yesterday, the mistake, gave me a wake-up call – explained Antonelli – because it compromised qualifying and damaged the car. So today in the Sprint I just tried to bring home the result, to save the car and in the end I didn’t want to take too many risks with Lando. But that’s fine, now we will focus on qualifying. I believe the potential is high – the Mercedes driver added while reflecting on the rest of the weekend – and I think the race pace today wasn’t bad. Obviously, though, when you’re in dirty air it’s not easy. I felt the car better today compared to yesterday. There is still work to do and we will make some changes ahead of qualifying, but I believe we can do well“.
Read more 2026 Constructors’ Championship: the standings after the Zandvoort Sprint
