Kimi Antonelli has admitted he is frustrated at being faced with the task of beating Lando Norris again at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after qualifying on the front row alongside the championship leader.
Saturday’s sprint saw the same front row, with Norris holding on for the win despite late pressure from Piastri, who looked slightly faster throughout the second half of the race. In qualifying, Antonelli was once again in contention for pole position, but had to settle for second place and decided to repeat Sunday.
“To be fair, I’m a little frustrated being behind him again,” Antonelli said. “So even though we were close in the sprint this morning, it was a very tricky session with the wind and it was very difficult to match the laps, but I was still able to set a decent lap on the last run so I’m happy.”
“We’ll start from second tomorrow. Of course they’re very fast, so it’ll be important to get a good start and set a good pace.”
Antonelli has only finished on the podium once in a grand prix this season, but said he was targeting victory given his performances so far and the favorable weather forecast for Mercedes.
“Definitely (in the game),” he said. “The pace this morning was really strong. It was very cold and we should have similar weather tomorrow, so that might help a little bit more. Running in dirty air is never easy. Hopefully we have strong pace and can put pressure on them and hopefully fight for the win.”
“I’ve seen a lot of races so far this season, and the start and track position can have a big impact on the rest of the races. Of course, Lando has had some really strong starts lately, so he needs something special. For me, I’m not going to try too hard and try to get a normal start and at least hold my position. We’ll see after that.”
The Italian rookie is aiming for a win, but he also has plans for the constructors’ championship in mind, as Mercedes are currently six points clear of Ferrari and 17 points clear of Red Bull.
“This is a huge opportunity,” he said. “I think it will be important to finish before Ferrari and get ahead of them because obviously the battle is very close. We could score big (against Red Bull)… so that’s definitely the goal.”
“That’s why it will be important tomorrow to set a good pace and apply pressure, but at the same time to try to achieve the best result possible at the moment.[This is]a big opportunity and that’s why we will do our best as a team.”
