Andrea Kimi Antonelli Crashes on Debut

Andrea Kimi Antonelli driving in place of George Russell crashed during his challenging debut at the Italian Grand Prix. Despite this setback, Lewis Hamilton led the way for Mercedes in Friday’s practice sessions. Hamilton outpaced McLaren’s Lando Norris by just 0.003 seconds in the second session. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz secured third place. Norris and Sainz were followed by their teammates, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.

Max Verstappen, the championship leader struggled with his qualifying simulation and finished 13th in the second session after running wide at Parabolica. However, he showed competitive pace in the race simulations, closely matching Norris. In the first session, Verstappen was the fastest with a time set on soft tires, 0.228 seconds ahead of Leclerc on medium tires.

Norris was third, followed by Sainz. Norris, currently 70 points behind Verstappen in the championship, expects a tight race among the top teams. He noted that McLaren’s Oscar Piastri should have been faster but made a mistake. He anticipates strong competition from Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes. Antonelli, who is likely to replace Russell at Mercedes next year, experienced a difficult debut.

He set the fastest lap initially but crashed heavily at Parabolica, which caused significant damage to the car. Although he remained unhurt, the crash delayed Russell’s session and a red flag from Kevin Magnussen’s crash further interrupted it. Despite these setbacks, Russell finished sixth after running on soft tires. Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff commented that the debut pressure might have overwhelmed Antonelli but saw potential in the driver.

Antonelli admitted that he pushed too hard and expressed regret over the crash. Meanwhile, fellow debutant Franco Colapinto started promisingly with Williams, replacing Logan Sargeant for the remainder of the season. Hamilton noted that the resurfaced track with new kerbs posed challenges but felt positive about the car’s performance. Verstappen, running with a reduced engine mode, found the long-run pace more promising and anticipates a close race among the top teams.