Mercedes has enjoyed a strong weekend in Canada so far with both drivers consistently improving during the free practice sessions and making it to the top five in Qualifying.
Kimi Antonelli did a great job securing P4 in qualifying, while his teammate George Russell put it on pole with an incredible 1:10.899.
Even though this was his first time at this circuit and he secured a strong P4, Antonelli was quite disappointed with his lap. The rookie expressed:
“The lap was quite bad to be honest. Already having the used tire didn’t help because I had to use it before, and it kind of put me in an unfavorable position for Q3 because we knew it was the quickest tyre.
“Also the tyre kind of gave up, second half of the lap I did a big mistake in Turn 10 and lost quite a bit of time, so for sure was not ideal. Despite that, we’re still P4 and we’ll look forward to tomorrow.”
Hopes for a podium finish
The rookie has had an impressive season in Formula One this year, scoring 48 points for the team while being seventh in the F1 driver’s championship. While this weekend is his first outing at the Canadian GP, Antonelli has already shown stellar performance.
When asked if he could be in the fight for the podium for the race, Antonelli positively expressed his hopes for a podium finish.
“Hopefully, that’s definitely the goal. We are aware the pace of the others in front are strong, but our FP2 long run was quite positive. We need to see how the temperature is going to be, if it’s going to be hotter than today or cooler. We’ll try to be ready for anything.”
The Mercedes rookie will undoubtably give it his all tomorrow to be in podium contention for the race at the Canadian GP tomorrow.
Antonelli lies eighth in the standings ahead of tomorrow’s race, 23 points away from Lewis Hamilton in sixth place.
Team-mate George Russell will start Sunday’s race from pole position, 63 points, ahead of Antonelli in the drivers standings.
