Kimi Antonelli suffered the worst possible start to his Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend with an early smoky exit from first practice.
With just 25 minutes of the session elapsed at the Baku City Circuit, and with Antonelli at the top of the timesheet with a lap of one minute 46.265s, the Mercedes driver was forced to pull off the track at Turn 7 with his W17 smoking at the rear.
Antonelli noted over the radio a hydraulics problem. After exiting his car, the 20-year-old Italian beckoned for a marshal to attend.
He then looked at the rear of his car, after which the marshal sprayed extinguisher fluid into that area, a plume of which hit the young driver as it bounced off the bodywork.
Arguably, the marshal should have waited to see if the car caught fire before using the extinguisher, instead leaving the Mercedes with a clean-up operation in between sessions.
Smoke continued to emerge from the vents on the sidepods as championship leader Antonelli, 81 points clear at the top of the drivers' standings, helped roll his car deeper into the run-off area.
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