Kimi Antonelli has conceded to 'driving like an animal' as the reason why he was unable to match George Russell during qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Following the second segment of qualifying, Antonelli appeared to be in the mix for a front-row slot given the pace displayed by the W16 as he was third quickest behind team-mate Russell and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
But the rookie Italian disappointed himself by over-driving the car in Q3, culminating in him only landing fourth on the grid behind a dominant pole-position performance from Russell.
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has revealed that Antonelli was left beating himself up after his Q3 display, and has provided reasons why the 19-year-old was unable to join Russell on the front row.
"Kimi was a bit frustrated after qualifying," said Shovling. "In his words, he said, 'I drove it like an animal'.
"He could see that the car had great potential. He'd been feeling so confident in it all weekend, and in Q3, you always have to make a bit of a step if you want to be on pole.
"The tricky bit was that Kimi was getting a bit eager on the throttle, trying to carry a bit too much speed in, and started to get snaps, and those snaps put temperature in. The more temperature you've got, the less grip.
"Every driver has done that many times come Q3 when they go for the big laps. It’s a useful bit of learning, but for us, it isn't really about what happened in Q3."
Praising Antonelli's performance during the race, in which he finished fifth. Shovlin added: "It's taking all the positives that we saw through all of the practice sessions.
"That early pace in qualifying was extremely encouraging, not to mention his race pace, which was right on the money."
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A little cautious
The one downside of the grand prix for Antonelli was his getaway off the line as he was passed by McLaren's Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari on the run-down to Turn 1.
Explaining what occurred, Shovlin said: "When you're on the inside there, that is a lower grip side, and if we look at Kimi's start compared to everyone there, it wasn't actually so bad.
"But in terms of what he did, he was a little bit under-engaged to start. So that means that the power unit isn't putting as much torque down on the rear tyres as we want.
"Then he's trying to correct that, [and he] went a little bit towards the over-engaged side. That explains why he didn't get the perfect initial getaway.
"But then also, positioned on the inside, there was low grip. So going into Turn 1, one of the places that he lost was just down to the fact that there was less grip than he expected on that side.
"A little bit cautious, but obviously great that he was able to get the places back against the Ferrari."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they look back at last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix! Lando Norris' move on Oscar Piastri is a major talking point, as is Max Verstappen's title chances now being very much alive.
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