Kimi Antonelli rues costly mistake after 'back foot' qualifying

Kimi Antonelli has lamented the mistake he made on the final lap of qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix, which he feels cost him a shot at pole position.

The Mercedes driver will line up third at Zandvoort, behind Lando Norris and George Russell, having lost two tenths of a second at the first corner on his last push lap of the session.

Antonelli, who leads the F1 drivers' championship by 53 points from Lewis Hamilton — and 56 from his team-mate — explained that he was "on the back foot" for most of the hour, ultimately missing out on pole by little under one-and-a-half tenths.

"It was a difficult session for me overall," the six-time grand prix winner said after the grid-setting session.

"I always found myself on the back foot, and then on the last lap I made a mistake in Turn 1, lost a couple of tenths; it was my mistake.

"It's a shame for that because I had a real shot for pole."

Despite the setback, the young Italian is well placed for the 72-lap race in North Holland, and was quick to highlight that it is still "all to play for" at the final trip to Zandvoort.

"In Q3, I thought we had a shot; we had a chance," the 19-year-old added. "But when I started the last lap in Q3, I saw I was two tenths down in Sector 1, and I was like, 'this is going to be difficult'.

But then I was able to make it up throughout the rest of the lap, so a shame for that. But all to play for tomorrow."