Kimi Antonelli didn’t listen to his own advice as he lost ‘confidence’ during torrid Belgian Grand Prix

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Kimi Antonelli’s woes at Mercedes continued at the Belgian Grand Prix as the rookie suffered a horrible weekend at Spa.

The highs of his maiden F1 podium at the Canadian GP seem like a distant memory, considering that race is his only points finish in the last seven. Mechanical failures and crashes have hampered his season, but the Belgian Grand Prix was an outright disaster.

A mistake in Sprint qualifying saw him start last on the grid, and he could only climb to P17 on Saturday. Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton was also eliminated in SQ1, and things got worse for the pair in Grand Prix qualifying.

Antonelli could only beat the Aston Martin drivers as he lined up 18th for the race, while Hamilton had his final lap time deleted due to track limits, dropping him to 16th.

Fans were concerned about Antonelli after qualifying, as he seemed visibly upset. Hamilton went to see the teenager in the Mercedes motorhome, offering words of advice to the young driver who was called up to replace him after his move to Ferrari.

Hamilton executed a brilliant strategy to finish P7 at Spa after starting from the pit lane. But Antonelli could not produce the same recovery drive as he finished down in 16th.

Kimi Antonelli didn’t listen to his own advice about qualifying better as he suffered torrid Belgian GP

It was a weekend to forget for Mercedes, as George Russell could only manage fifth. The Brit has scored all of Mercedes’ points in the last three races as his teammate struggles with a lack of confidence in the car.

But after the Belgian GP, he has one clear area to improve. Antonelli admitted that qualifying was his weakest attribute in his rookie F1 season, having suffered three exits before Q3 prior to the race at Spa.

His disaster in Belgium left him lamenting his poor performance on Saturday. He said, via Motorsport Italia: “In the few laps I was in free air, I had some fun. Then I got stuck, and it was frustrating, because you can’t show your real pace.

“When I was in clear air, I managed to set the fastest lap of the race, but then I fell behind the train of cars and was lapping two seconds slower. It was complicated, but I shouldn’t have started so far back.

“I think I need to work on my qualifying and regain confidence with the car, so I can try to start further up the field. Because when I start in front, things go differently.

“I need to qualify better so I can start higher up on the grid. Also because in those races where I managed to start higher up, it was a completely different story than this weekend.”

Antonelli had warned himself before the weekend that his qualifying performances were not up to scratch. He did not take that on board in Spa, which left him languishing at the back and thus losing that confidence that he seemed to have at the start of the season.

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Following his latest troubles in F1, Antonelli is now only nine points ahead of Williams driver Alex Albon in the standings. Sitting 94 points behind teammate Russell, he has serious work to do to recover his form.

Naomi Schiff found Antonelli’s comments ‘hard to believe’ at Spa, as the Italian stated that he had little confidence in the car. She felt that the theory was disproved by how much he was pushing on Saturday, as she instead saw a balance issue with the W16.

Jacques Villeneuve says Antonelli needs to reset, which the summer break will allow him to do. But before then, the Hungarian GP fast approaches this weekend, and he needs to get the best out of it.

There has been huge speculation surrounding the Italian’s future, as he is yet to sign a contract for 2026. While Antonelli and Russell are set to get new deals at Mercedes, the Brackley outfit will certainly want to see the former improve as they battle Ferrari for second in the constructors’ championship.