Kimi Antonelli 'feels empty' following Barcelona GP DNF nightmare

Antonelli, the youngest championship leader in F1 history, still indeed leads the standings, but has had his gap ahead of Lewis Hamilton reduced to only 41 points after the Briton's first-ever win for Ferrari. Despite his disappointing end, the 19-year-old still made sure to congratulate the seven-time world champion he replaced at Mercedes.

Focusing on his own race, however, Antonelli could not hide his disappointment with the heartbreaking DNF, marking the third race in a row where one of Mercedes' drivers have failed to finish after encountering power unit problems.

On his DNF, Antonelli said: "Yeah, of course, it's very disappointing. But these things happen. It happens to George [Russell] in Canada. It happened to me this time. And it's definitely something we need to work on as a team because it's important points that we lose.

Antonelli did take some consolation from his pace throughout the Barcelona GP, with the Italian looking quicker than his Mercedes teammate Russell before overtaking him in the latter stages of the race after an exciting battle. Antonelli also made sure to congratulate Hamilton when speaking to Sky F1.

He said: "I think we were the quickest on track today. Okay, Lewis, at the end, he was very quick, but second stint we were super quick. The way we came back from the battle. And yeah, the pace was good. Of course, Lewis after the VSC was not possible to catch. By the way, I'm very happy for him for his win. It's good to see that he got his first win with Ferrari.

When asked whether Hamilton and Ferrari can now be considered a genuine threat in the title race, Antonelli continued to Sky F1: "I mean, for sure, they're in incredible form. Ferrari is very reliable, but they're quick as well.

After the race, Antonelli received a five-second time penalty for track limits, but it will not affect his next Grand Prix weekend. That is because five-second penalties that cannot be served due to a DNF are not carried over.