Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli finished third at the Austrian Grand Prix on June 28, 2026, despite dropping to fifth place after going off the track three times during the opening two laps at the Red Bull Ring.
The Formula 1 championship leader started the race from fourth position but ran over the sausage kerb onto the escape road at Turn 1 before suffering a similar excursion at Turn 3.
Antonelli later fell behind Max Verstappen after going wide during a lap-two overtake attempt on Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
The weekend had started strongly for the Italian driver, who topped both Friday practice sessions and held provisional pole before aborting his final qualifying lap due to a misunderstanding over yellow flags.
He now holds a 40-point lead over his teammate George Russell in the championship standings.
"It was a weekend where I started very strong and I think because of that I kind of lowered the intensity a bit too much," said Antonelli.
The 19-year-old explained that he felt tense during qualifying and struggled significantly with his brakes during the initial phase of the Grand Prix.
"Coming to qualifying I just felt a bit tense driving wise.
Was still up there, but I felt like I wasn't driving that well and not as free," said Antonelli.
Despite the early setbacks and mistakes, Antonelli recovered his pace as the race progressed through the final stints.
"Of course the last lap went like that, but I was a tenth behind George so it probably would have been P2," said Antonelli.
He noted that his performance improved significantly after switching tires later in the event.
"Starting from P4, first two laps were really bad for me and then I really struggled with the brakes and I just lost a lot of time because I started to do mistakes," said Antonelli.
The driver concluded that his final stint allowed him to showcase the true pace of the car.
"Then the second stint was a bit better and third stint was really, really strong, the pace was there, but of course fell a bit short," said Antonelli.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff addressed the performance of the sophomore driver, stating that the opening corners cost Antonelli a higher finish but viewing the mistakes as part of the learning process.
"The first few corners, this is where the race got lost," said Wolff.
Wolff defended the young driver's aggressive approach while highlighting that his desire to stay close to Russell ultimately impacted his race positioning.
"Full attack mode, missing braking in Turn 1, missing braking in Turn 3, missing braking in Turn 4," said Wolff.
The team principal expressed confidence that the qualifying flag misunderstanding would be a unique learning experience for the driver.
"But, as I said, this is exactly what I expect from him. Like yesterday, the yellow, that's never going to happen to him in his life again.
To not see whether it's a double yellow or a single yellow," said Wolff.
Wolff reiterated that the driver's positioning on the track directly affected his final placement.
"In the same way today, he just wanted to be right there on George.
He wanted to be right behind him and that cost him a position or two," said Wolff.
