For Kimi Antonelli, the 2025 F1 Monaco GP was about restraint. Finishing P18 after a strategy-heavy race that hinged on playing the team game, the Mercedes driver said it was a “chill” outing despite the visible frustrations on the track.
“Yeah, it was(difficult), but it was quite relaxing to be honest,” Antonelli said when asked to sum up his race by the media.
“It was a very chill race, and only lap one was an option. But because we were trying to go long straight away, that was the plan.
“Williams was playing the same game, so then I was doing what the team asked me to.”
With George Russell eventually finishing just outside the points in P11, Antonelli played the rear guard for much of the afternoon, backing the pack to help his teammate optimise the mandatory two-stop strategy, even if the results didn’t follow.
“We were trying to at least get one of the cars into the points, and unfortunately, it didn’t work out. But yeah, I mean nothing more could have been done there. I was just trying to help the team as much as possible,” he explained.
“At least the last five laps I could have pushed, which you know, was fun. But yeah, it was also kind of expected.
“You know, when you start this much back in Monaco, you know it’s going to be hard to make up places.”
The Italian was candid about the bigger picture too, admitting that his own qualifying mistake on Saturday set the tone for Sunday’s limitations.
“I also believe that I shouldn’t have been in that position as well. You know, the mistake of yesterday was costly, and I’ll make sure I don’t make it again, and I’ll try to bounce back in Barcelona.”
Kimi Antonelli shares notes from maiden F1 Monaco GP weekend
Despite the result, Antonelli said the weekend was still a valuable one in terms of development, particularly when it came to setting up calls and understanding how to better contribute during a race weekend.
“This probably was a difficult weekend. I think there was a lot to learn, especially on setup decisions. Decision was a massive learning, and also I understood much better how to behave and what feedback to give to the team as well,” he said.
“During the weekend, we kind of went in that one direction, and then we started coming back to where we started. So I think on my side it was good learning and especially for the future I will know much better how to behave on that side.”
In the end, it wasn’t a points haul, but it was a weekend of patience, perspective and growth.
“It was good to manage the kind of frustration during the race,” Antonelli concluded. “But yeah, aside that, I think it was still a decent learning.”
