Kimi Antonelli has revealed that he was "penalised" by the poor grip levels at the start of the Singapore Grand Prix, before making the "mistake" of trying to follow Lando Norris.
A short rain shower ahead of the grand prix at the Marina Bay Circuit washed away any significant grip on the track, making the start difficult for all drivers.
It was particularly bad for those who started on the left-hand side of the circuit, as it already had minimal grip before the rain.
Antonelli started in fourth on the left-side and had a poor start, causing him to be immediately overtaken by Norris on the short run into the first corner.
The young Mercedes rookie attempted to stick to the rear of Norris' McLaren through the opening corners, although found himself too far on the inside of the track. It left the door open to Charles Leclerc, who swept around the outside of the 19-year-old.
Discussing his start, Antonelli told select media including RacingNews365: "Yeah, to be fair, the left-hand side was quite a bit worse than the right-hand side. We were a bit penalised at the start, because the grip was a bit worse.
"But my mistake in Turn 1 was trying to hold onto Norris, and then I found myself way too on the inside, and Leclerc got a much better run on the outside.
"So it was a shame, but the pace in the race was really strong. So that's a positive, and we try to carry that into the next few races."
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Antonelli's clever strategy
Following the unfortunate start which saw Antonelli fall to sixth, the Italian demonstrated great pace for much of the race.
In a tough battle with Leclerc, Antonelli opted to protect his tyres for stronger performance in the closing laps, while the Ferrari driver was pushing to remain in front.
A brake issue made Leclerc an easy target in the closing laps which handed Antonelli a solid fifth-place finish.
However, even without Leclerc's brake problem, Antonelli was confident that he would gain the position before the chequered flag.
When pointed out that Leclerc had brake issues in the closing laps, Antonelli added: "He also with tyres, he started to struggle. He was really pushing.
"And so I was trying to play the long game, trying to save my tyres and really trying to find the right moment to attack.
"And I felt when we were approaching the traffic of the back markers, I felt that was the best moment, because he was in clean air and I was in dirty air, and I was still able to hold onto him.
"I knew that he would start to struggle once he gets into the dirty air as well. So that was good timing."
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