Antonelli Takes Dutch GP Performance as “Wake-Up Call” in F1 2026 Title Fight

Andrea Kimi Antonelli feels F1 Dutch GP weekend has been a good “wake-up call” for him in the title battle, even though he doesn’t feel extra pressure on himself.

First weekend after summer break and Mercedes’ Antonelli has conceded “wake-up call” alarm bell in the F1 drivers’ title fight, especially after teammate George Russell got the Dutch GP sprint qualifying pole and a win, which he followed it up with a second place finish in main qualifying, ahead of him.

Antonelli doesn’t feel extra pressure but takes the result as good wake-up call, even though the real race is yet to be done, where he is usually quicker. But he doesn’t want to make any mistakes like he did in sprint qualifying and also Q3, which he feels cost him dearly in larger context.

Antonelli feels no extra pressure but takes Dutch GP as wake-up call

“No, I don’t feel any extra pressure,” said Antonelli in F1 Dutch GP press conference. “But it was a very good wake-up call this weekend, that you can never lower your guard because when you do that… I did a mistake yesterday and today I did a mistake in Q3.

“So, it’s not that I’m driving more tense or anything, but I just feel this weekend is a good wake-up call, and to just again put things in the right place at the right time and just deliver the result when it counts,” summed up Antonelli, who felt it was mostly balance factor that put him down.

Antonelli eased a bit on last run in Q3 due to rain

He pointed towards Sector 3 where he was struggling the most. They made changes but he ended up making a mistake in Sector 1, thinking it was to rain and ended up paying the price for it. If not for that, Antonelli felt he had the shot for pole, which McLaren’s Lando Norris took.

“[I was] just struggling with the balance, to be fair, throughout the whole session,” continued Antonelli. “Mainly Sector 3, was struggling in the chicane. And then just made a couple of changes and the feeling came back. But obviously, in the last lap I did a mistake in Sector 1.

“[I] took it a bit too easy seeing the rain on the visor and just, yeah, was a really poor Sector 1. And shame because I think we had a shot for pole, but still starting P3 tomorrow and all to play for.” The Italian admitted that he couldn’t get the laps together throughout the session.

Antonelli struggled to get it together in Dutch GP qualifying

It was good that he could get it in a better window in Q3 to be third. “I mean, to be fair, in FP1 I felt very good,” said Antonelli. “Then obviously yesterday in quali I did a mistake, and that definitely took some confidence away.

“Also, today in qualifying, mainly because the feeling was not really there with the car, I still struggled to find my rhythm and to put the lap times together. But luckily in Q3 we were able to put things a bit more together and to be on the second row.”

Starting third, he is only worried about the dirty air after struggles in F1 Dutch GP sprint. He feels Mercedes has the race pace, a good start should help. “I think our race pace was good today,” said Antonelli. “Just difficult with the dirty air, but we’ll try to get a good start tomorrow and try to bring home a good result.”

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →