Antonelli reacts to his late penalty following track limits breach: “I thought we had a shot for the win today”

Credit: Formula One

It was a disastrous end to what was almost the perfect weekend for Kimi Antonelli. Following a sprint win and pole position in qualifying, the current championship leader was on course to win his sixth race of the season. However, troubles with his W17 resulted in multiple pit stops and a five-second time penalty which made it a point-less race for him.

On Lap 42 at Silverstone, Antonelli began to slow down and eventually came into the pits to try and fix an issue with his car. The team changed his tyres and front wing and the young Italian driver got back out on track to try and pick up as many points as he could in his World Championship campaign.

However, over the team radio, Antonelli highlighted to his engineers that he believed the suspension was broken. The team responded to tell him that they think there was damage to his wheel shield.

He went back into the pits to try and rectify the issue again. The team ripped off the damage and Antonelli got going again, but there was clearly a deeper issue at hand. They thought of retiring the car, but Antonelli was determined to fight until the end in an attempt to pick up at least one point for the team.

We soon learned how he sustained the damage. On the exit of Copse corner, we saw Antonelli go wide over the curb which flipped the front left wheel shield to the right, throwing off the aerodynamics of the car and ultimately affecting his steering.

Due to the steering issues, Antonelli exceeded track limits multiple times and received a five-second time penalty due to this. Antonelli wasn’t best pleased when he found out about his time penalty. Over the team radio, he said: "That's a joke. I didn't do it on purpose. The car was broken, I wasn't even gaining time."

Following a late spin out from Max Verstappen on Lap 48, a Safety Car was deployed. Since the race ended under the Safety Car, it meant Antonelli was unable to build a gap between himself and those behind him, dropping him to sixteenth from ninth.

“I couldn’t even get one point. When things looked like I was still going to be able to get one point, the Safety Car came out and I got the penalty,” Antonelli stated, reiterating that he thought the penalty was unfair and went on to explain why.

“It’s okay if you get track limits by going off and gaining positions, but I couldn’t keep the car on track in that instant.

“I was trying my best to stay on track, but I just couldn’t. After the last pitstop the car felt kind of drivable I would say.

“It didn’t go our way, and it’s a shame because I thought we had a real shot for the win today.”

Today’s result cuts Antonelli’s championship lead down to 25 points. George Russell picked up a second place finish, securing 18 points to close the margin between himself and his teammate.

Next up is the Belgian Grand Prix held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Despite Antonelli’s out of control result today, there is no doubt that he will be back on form in two weeks time.