Kimi Antonelli called out for what he foolishly refused to ‘accept’ at the Dutch Grand Prix

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Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli heads home to Monza for his first Italian GP as an F1 driver, straight after his error-strewn outing during the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix.

The Bologna boy, who only turned 19 on August 25, will contest his second home race in the 2025 F1 season this Sunday. Antonelli already sampled life as an F1 driver on home soil back in May at Imola, but the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix also marked the start of a torrid stretch.

Antonelli has earned points in two of the nine Grands Prix from F1’s visit to his backyard, with the Mercedes gem’s P3 in the Canadian Grand Prix and P10 in the Hungarian Grand Prix. His P16 at Zandvoort was also not his worst result, after finishing the Monaco Grand Prix in P18.

Mercedes watched their rookie drop from P6 to P16 after the chequered flag, after Antonelli crashed into Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the Dutch GP. He drew a 10-second penalty for their collision, on top of receiving a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane at Zandvoort.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was ‘stupid’ not to ‘accept’ his Dutch Grand Prix undercut failed

Team principal Toto Wolff believes Antonelli did what Mercedes want by being aggressive at Zandvoort, but he was “too optimistic” against Leclerc. Now, Antonelli will go home for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza with the horrors of the Dutch GP ringing in the teenager’s ears.

READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats

Christian Danner claims Antonelli could have avoided the crash with Leclerc at Turn 3 on Lap 53 of 72, as well. But the Mercedes gem did not want to admit that his attempt to undercut the Ferrari driver had failed, so he attempted an ambitious lunge through Hugenholtzbocht.

“That was clearly Antonelli’s fault,” Danner told Motorsport-Magazin. “He didn’t want to accept that the undercut hadn’t worked and tried to overtake in a place where it shouldn’t be possible. That was pretty stupid.”

Mercedes forced Ferrari to react when the Silver Arrows pitted Antonelli from P6 on Lap 51 of the Dutch GP last Sunday. Leclerc did not want to pit on L52 of the Dutch GP, but Ferrari felt they had to cover the Italian, who was then straight on his tail for seventh on the road.

How many penalty points does Kimi Antonelli now have after crashing into Charles Leclerc?

Antonelli now has four penalty points on his superlicence, having also drawn two points for causing a collision with Max Verstappen in Austria this June. Red Bull saw their home event collapse when Antonelli crashed into Verstappen on the first lap of the Austrian Grand Prix.

After his error-strewn Dutch GP denied the Bologna boy points, people in F1’s paddock think Antonelli might not have the talent Mercedes hoped for, too. He has failed to take a point in eight of his first 15 Grands Prix, including seven of the last nine from the Emilia Romagna GP.

But, despite Antonelli crashing into Leclerc and speeding in the pit lane at Zandvoort, Wolff confirmed that Mercedes intend to retain the Italian next year. Yet Guenther Steiner expects Mercedes will drop Antonelli after the 2026 season, if the Italian does not improve his form.