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."
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