Mercedes are picking up the pieces after Kimi Antonelli smashed into the wall during his Formula 1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix. Crashing just minutes into his Free Practice 1 run at Monza, it’s safe to say he’s devastated.
The F2 racer, thought to be in the running for Lewis Hamilton’s seat when he leaves for Ferrari in 2025, had been driving for just 10 minutes when he ploughed the W15 into the Parabolica corner after admitting he’d been “pushing a bit too much”.
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It’s caused substantial damage to the car’s floor and has potentially ruined George Russell’s time in FP2. He faced the media on Friday after the huge smash. “First FP1 done,” the 18-year-old explained. “Unfortunately it ended quite quickly because of the crash.
“It was quite a big one, around 52g. Really sorry to the team and George for making them work afterwards. Just a mistake by my side, just pushing a bit too much for the conditions and I should have built the run a bit more progressively.
“But definitely a lesson learned for next time. But I’m still really thankful to the team for making this possible, and still great to see all the tifosi out there, and to get the first laps with all the drivers on track.
“I’m not feeling super well at the moment, I’m just going to go back and try to rest and try to focus for the rest of the weekend, because there’s still some races to go [in Formula 2] and we’re going to still try and get a good result.”
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