Antonelli reveals why he was "at a slight disadvantage" in qualifying
Having grabbed an impressive fourth starting position for today's Canadian Grand Prix, Andrea Kimi Antonelli has revealed that he was "at a slight disadvantage" in the final qualifying segment as he did not have a new set of mediums for Q3.
Although George Russell did not always look particularly quick on Pirelli's red-walled C6 tyres, he opted for mediums for his final lap in Q3. The Briton managed a dream last lap to grab his first pole of the season.
The Mercedes driver nailed every single corner to beat reigning champion Max Verstappen by a tenth and a half, repeating his result from last season when he also secured pole position in Montreal.
His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli looked to struggle for pace in the opening stages of the Montreal weekend, but the Italian got his act together when it really mattered, posting encouraging lap times all through qualifying.
Similar to Russell, the Bologna-born driver completed his last lap on Pirelli's medium tyres, albeit he was on a used set of yellow-banded tyres, but he still did very well to bag a place on the second row.
Reflecting on his qualifying, Antonelli said: "That was a better Qualifying session than recent races and I felt a lot more comfortable on the Soft C6 tyre. It took a little while for me to get into the rhythm and that meant I burnt through both of my new Medium tyres before Q3.
"Being on the used tyre in that final segment meant I was at a slight disadvantage for my final lap. The grip began to fade away in the final sector and lost quite a bit of time.
Antonelli continued: "My lap wasn’t particularly great but, even with that, I ended up P4. That is not a bad starting position and hopefully we can fight at the front.
"The other factor for us to consider is the weather. It has been slightly warmer than on Friday today and yet we still performed well. It may be hotter tomorrow and that will have an impact on how the tyres react.
"Our long run in FP2 looked competitive though and I felt good in the car. Hopefully we can show similar good pace and focus on the cars ahead," Antonelli concluded.
