Andrea Kimi Antonelli says his first-lap collision with Max Verstappen in last week’s Austrian Grand Prix wasn’t the worst mistake of his short Formula 1 career.
The Mercedes driver said crashing during his first appearance for Mercedes in an official F1 practice session during the Italian Grand Prix last year was “worse.”
He covered just five laps on his debut in an F1 practice session when he spun into a barrier at Parabolica. “Monza was the worst ever,” Antonelli told media including RaceFans yesterday.
“But I think after you go through difficult moments they all help in case you face them again to overcome them in a better way. The difficult triple-header was a really good learning [experience] and it really helped me as well to face the down moment of Austria and to kind of reset and come back stronger for this weekend.
“Definitely these are all episodes that obviously you don’t want to happen because in some ways they kind of hurt you as well. But they also make you stronger and when you get to the moment again, the difficult moment, you’re able to react in a much better way.”
Antonelli said team principal Toto Wolff was understanding about his mistake.
“It was not super-easy to go back into the garage because obviously I felt very sorry towards the team,” he said. “Ending the race on lap one is never good. And, of course, also [for] the mechanics that had to repair the car afterwards.
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“So I took a little bit of time to cool down and then walk into the garage and apologise to all the members and then eventually also talked with Toto. In the moment I didn’t talk too much because obviously he was focused on the race and I didn’t want to bother them much.
“But later on we had a more proper conversation, I explained, I said I’m very sorry it was my mistake. It was very comprehensive, he wasn’t angry or anything.
“Obviously the thing is now I cannot make the same mistake again so I’ll make sure I learn from it in order to move on as well. But it was very open and we had a nice conversation as well.”
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2025 Austrian Grand Prix
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