Kimi Antonelli has suffered a disaster in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the championship leader forced to stop his car.
The Italian hit the wall hard on the inside of the first corner, triggering an immediate puncture and probable damage to the left-front of his Mercedes.
Antonelli was told to stop the car by race engineer Peter Bonnington, but initially asked if he could bring it back to the garage.
Bonnington explained that the Mercedes had likely sustained extensive damage, with a long repair job set to see him out of qualifying regardless.
Antonelli watched on from the sidelines in what was a rare mistake from the 20-year-old. His lap time from Q1 was enough to make Q2, meaning he will start from P16.
Elsewhere, Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez were both placed under investigation for allegedly impeding.
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