Was his Baku effort just a footnote after the dazzling Monza win? Antonelli faced a stark contrast on the street circuit.
After a wall‑hit in qualifying, the Italian started 16th. The 6km Baku track offered more overtaking chances than Madrid, yet he knew repeating Monza’s heroics was a stretch.
Navigating the windy, hazard‑laden circuit, he adopted a careful rhythm, nudging past midfield rivals to climb to eighth before a safety car on lap 31.
The safety car, triggered by Alex Albon, let him capitalize on Lando Norris’s early exit; later Franco Colapinto’s incident removed Norris and Pierre Gasly, letting the Mercedes driver escape unscathed.
For my money, Antonelli’s fifth‑place finish proved a savvy damage‑limitation strategy, edging closer to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
He later admitted he was driving like his Italian ‘nonna’, aiming to shave points off teammate George Russell’s tally.
“I was driving a bit like my grandmother today, just damage‑save mode,” he said. “I didn’t take a risk until I was sure I could pull it off.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Carlos Sainz, Williams
Despite dodging Colapinto’s chaos at the restart, Haas rookie Oliver Bearman clipped his left‑hand floor edge.
“After the restart, my left side was shredded,” Antonelli noted. “The car felt sketchy, yet I still chased fourth. In the end, fifth had to be enough.”
“I saw Alpine lock up and backed off, ready for the switchback, but Ollie appeared too fast on the inside. I escaped, though the damage was heavy.”
A hydraulic leak in practice and a qualifying crash left him disappointed, prompting a more restrained race approach.
“If I’d had Monza‑level pace, I’d have attacked fully,” he reflected. “Overtaking was tougher with a pack all fighting for positions, and my speed lagged.”
“The mindset shifted fast. Watching others slip up made me pull back, then I seized their errors to move forward.”
Limiting his loss to Russell to 15 points, he departs Baku with a 66‑point cushion as the season heads to Malaysia.
Photos from F1 Azerbaijan GP – Saturday
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