Kimi Antonelli details root of Italian GP struggle after 'underwhelming' Toto Wolff verdict

Kimi Antonelli has highlighted missing most of the second practice session at Monza put him on the back foot for the remainder of the weekend.

Antonelli had set just four laps during FP2 at the Italian Grand Prix before a mistake at the second Lesmo corner saw him get stuck in the gravel.

The Mercedes driver went on to qualify in seventh place but could not make inroads during the race, crossing the line in ninth.

While it marked his best result since his maiden F1 podium in Canada, his performance was labelled as “underwhelming” by team boss Toto Wolff.

Antonelli stated that not having any laps during FP2 to simulate qualifying and the grand prix put him at a disadvantage to his rivals.

“[It's difficult] when you miss a full practice, especially FP2, which is usually quite important,” Antonelli told media including RacingNews365.

“It's where the track is the closest in terms of time and temperature to qualifying. 

“But also for the long run. In FP1, you do long run, but the track usually is quite green, so the degradation is a bit different, while FP2 is more representative. 

“I just didn't do the long run in the most important session. I did a long run in FP3 but it was with soft tyres, which was quite irrelevant.

“That was penalising, mostly for the race today.”

Antonelli highlighted his biggest struggle came with his confidence in the rear behaviour of the W16 challenger.

“On the mediums I felt pretty good, to be honest, with the car,” he said. “On the hards, I struggled with the rear.

“I had instability in medium-high speed corners. I struggled overall with the rear support.”