Antonelli not feeling “100 per cent” after high-speed Monza crash

Having suffered a high-speed crash on his debut F1 outing at Monza, Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed that he was “pushing a bit too hard for the conditions.”

Italian sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli took over George Russell’s car in Free Practice One at Monza, completing his first public laps.

The F2 driver briefly top of the times after just one hot lap, and had completed just five laps when he spun into the tyre wall.

"It’s been quite a day here in Monza. Unfortunately, my first FP1 session ended quite quickly with a big crash. It was measured at 52G, so it was a heavy one.

The Bologna-born driver has revealed that he was not feeling perfect after the incident, but he will try to recover for his F2 sessions.

“I am not feeling 100% so I will have an easy night this evening and rest ahead of the rest of the weekend. I am sorry to the team and to George as it is not how we wanted the hour to go. It was a pure mistake from my side where I was pushing just a bit too hard for the conditions. I should have built into the speed more progressively and it is something I will learn from.

"I am still thankful to the team for making it possible for me to drive in FP1. It was great to drive in front of the tifosi and be on track with all the other drivers."

Speaking of Antonelli’s and Mercedes’ day, the team’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin rues the track time that George Russell lost with the Italian’s crash, but was happy to see the 18-year-old walk away unscathed.

"We’ve had a busy day here in Monza. Kimi's accident luckily didn't do any damage to him, but the car took a big hit. Repairing it ate into George's session a little bit. That cost us some learning but we'll hopefully recover that ground in FP3 tomorrow.

"Lewis had two strong sessions. The car seems to be working well, but there is not much to choose between the top few teams; it all looks very tight and from today's data there doesn't seem to be more than a couple of tenths separating the front of the field.

“For the race, managing the tyres looks like it is going to be a challenge. The new surface is causing quite high degradation and as soon as you push hard, the tyres start to drop. It is not an easy track to employ the necessary management without leaving yourself vulnerable to being overtaking, but it should lead to an interesting race."