Antonelli reveals key errors that cost him Canada pole in Russell defeat

The 19-year-old, who had secured pole in the previous three races, came up just short at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where Mercedes teammate Russell snatched top spot with a late lap of 1:12.965. Antonelli had looked on course for pole after posting a 1:13.033 but was edged out by just 68 milliseconds.

Reflecting on what went wrong, Antonelli highlighted tyre preparation as the key issue, along with a small mistake on his final flying lap as reasons for missing out on pole: “I think it was just really struggling to get the tyres in the right window, working them properly. I think that was the main issue for us. And then I had a little missed downshift on the last lap, into Turn 6, which threw me off a little bit. But the rest I think was pretty OK,” Antonelli said during his post-qualifying media interaction.

The Italian also admitted he would remember the pole gap to Russell for a very long time, noting how his session unravelled after a strong start through the opening stages of qualifying.

“Yeah, it was again 68 milliseconds. I’m going to remember that number for a very long time. Yeah, I mean, it was a difficult session. It started off very strongly on used tyres, and then it kind of faded away a little bit throughout the session. I had a really bad lap in Q3, really bad first lap, and then the second lap, I just tried to put things a bit more together. It was very difficult to get the tyres in the right window, especially for lap one. So of course, it was a pity to miss out by this close, but I think it was still a decent session and George did a great lap,” Antonelli added.

Earlier, Antonelli also missed out on pole to Russell during the Sprint race, with the pair subsequently battling it out in a rather contentious outing during the Sprint. Russell eventually claimed victory in the 23-lap shootout, with his teammate finishing third, behind Lando Norris, who took second place.

Speaking in the aftermath of qualifying for the main race, Russell and Antonelli revealed what was said within the team in the hour between Saturday’s two sessions. The pair clarified that their bond remains strong and that the scrap won’t affect their respect for each other going forward.

Antonelli noted that the pair had discussed the incident that played out and subsequently had a chat with Wolff to further clarify things. Russell also echoed his teammate’s words, adding that they had a discussion and stressing that there is now clarity on how they are allowed to race, particularly within the confines of respect for each other.

Russell further noted that he understands Antonelli’s frustration, with the young driver having taken to the radio to air his complaint numerous times during the Sprint, admitting he would have reacted in a similar fashion if the roles had been reversed.

The incident during the Sprint race was described as a “rich man’s problem” by Scuderia Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur. The French motorsport chief, who weighed in on the intra-team Mercedes situation, suggested that managing the clash between the two Mercedes drivers and the fallout handled by team principal Toto Wolff is a delicate but ultimately enviable dilemma given the team’s competitive position. Vassuer, however, lauded how the situation have been handled by the Mercedes hierarchy so far.