Antonelli primed for Sprint showdown after stunning qualifying

The Mercedes driver, who stormed to second place during Friday’s qualifying, acknowledged how tricky the wind conditions can prove to be before emphasising that his focus will be on being prepared for whatever the Sprint throws at him.

“We’re going to have to take care of the wind—it’s going to rotate quite a lot, so we expect conditions to be quite different compared to today,” he said to the media in Brazil.

“The weather is also going to be a bit uncertain, but we’ll try to be ready for anything and hopefully have a good race," he concluded.

Antonelli also reflected on his qualifying session for the Sprint race. The 19-year-old admitted to some frustrations with his run in the middle sector but was overall pleased with the second place he achieved.

“It was a good session overall. Q1 was a bit scrappy and difficult with traffic, but then we got into our rhythm. The soft lap was a bit of a shame in the second-to-last sector, but still a decent lap. P2, so there’s a lot to fight for," he stated.

The Mercedes driver clocked a lap time of 1:09.340, just under a tenth off the time achieved by Lando Norris, who claimed pole position.

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