Formula 1 World Championship 2025, Round 7, Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy, Saturday 17 May 2025 - Andrea Kimi Antonelli (ITA) Mercedes AMG F1.

Antonelli faces bitter dissapointment after underwhelming quali at home race

20:21, 17 May

byNorberto Mujica

Andrea Kimi Antonelli's first home qualifying was a bitter dissapointment, and the Italian is still to understand where it all went wrong for him.

Prior to the weekend, the excitement in Antonelli for racing in Italy for the first time as a Mercedes F1 driver could hardly be contained. Now after qualifying his emotions are really different.

"I really felt [like] I couldn't... I don't know, I didn't feel [like] anything worked. Also compared to FP3, I lost so much time and it seemed really hard to gain and to make an improvement," said the young Italian to media including GPblog after the qualifying session in Imola.

"I need to check what happened, but definitely today was difficult because I really had no confidence in the car."

Did Pirelli's C6 tyre have anything to do with his woes? "It's definitely not an easy tyre and definitely there were some differences compared to FP3, but it was difficult out there, I just really couldn't-- I didn't have the same grip as FP3."

Formula 1 World Championship 2025, Round 7, Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy, Friday 16 May 2025 - Andrea Kimi Antonelli (ITA) Mercedes AMG F1 W16.

Antonelli expected more from his home qualifying

In the end, a bitter disappointment for Antonelli. "It's very disappointing because I was hoping for much better, especially after looking at FP3. But yeah, nothing really did work out and I need to check why."

Where was the time? Antonelli has no answers yet. "I don't really know. I mean, the thing is, I know [the] tyres were a bit hotter compared to FP. I don't know if that can be the reason but I just really struggled for grip out there."