Antonelli opens up on ironic Verstappen advice before Dutchman's Monaco GP start mishap

The Dutchman started alongside Antonelli on the front row of the Monaco GP last weekend, with the Italian going on to win his fifth consecutive race, to take a commanding 66 point lead at the top of the standings. Any challenge from Verstappen ended before it even began, as the Dutchman failed to initially get off the line. He subsequently managed to get going at the back of the field, but brought the car into the pits to retire at the end of the first lap.

Antonelli goes into this weekend's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix aiming to win a sixth consecutive race. Ahead of the weekend's action, Antonelli opened up on the ironic advice given to him by Verstappen.

Speaking in Thursday's press conference ahead of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, Antonelli spoke of the advice Verstappen gave to him before the Monaco GP start, stating that it was "obviously a joke".

He said: "Max is his latest advice was to wait for the red light to go off and wait one second. Then unfortunately he had the issue but that was his latest advice which was obviously a joke."

Antonelli did not listen to Verstappen's "joke" as he made a blinding start, while the technical issues on Verstappen's Red Bull car resulted in him allowing the entire field through, ending what hoped to be a promising race after qualifying P2. His main challenge came from Lewis Hamilton who, after the comment from Verstappen, joked that Antonelli should wait two seconds after he started the Monaco GP in third, finishing second.

The 19-year-old Italian was asked whether Verstappen and Hamilton have given him advice on how to beat Mercedes teammate George Russell. "We haven't talked specifically about that (how to beat George Russell). We talk about a lot of stuff, he just said to keep doing what I'm doing, keep enjoying myself and the results will come."

"Max and Lewis have been very kind since I joined the sport, and very supportive as well. It's great to witness on my side but I mean we are still competitors at the end of the day, so they don't want to give too much away but it has been fun the relationship with them."