Kimi Antonelli Confirms Cause Of Italian GP Practice Red Flag Incident

Kimi Antonelli has conceded it was his mistake that led to his spin during second practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver has insisted that his confidence remains high, however, despite the latest in an ever-growing list of errors.

Rookie Antonelli has come under increasing pressure having struggled to put complete weekend performances together, and with a lack of points in recent rounds, a collision with Charles Leclerc at the Dutch Grand Prix last week failed to take some weight off his shoulders.

Antonelli beached

🔴 RED FLAG 🔴

Antonelli has spun off into the gravel and his FP2 is over ❌#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/DwGNUr8ZWV
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 5, 2025

A homecoming at Monza this weekend has provided an opportunity for Antonelli to energize his season and that seemed to be the case in FP1 as he finished fifth on the time charts, quicker than teammate George Russell.

But it unravelled early in the second hour of practice as he lost the rear of his W16 on entry to the second Lesmo, beaching his car in the gravel and triggering the session's only red flag period.

"I just pushed a bit too hard for the grip at that moment and it was a shame," said Antonelli post-session. "The day was looking good. I had a good FP1 and then the start of FP2 was looking strong, so confidence is still high.

Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes — Peter Casey-Imagn Images

"Obviously, tomorrow we'll have to do a bit of a different program but we'll try to be ready for anything."

The incident means that Antonelli has missed out on the prime time to simulate qualifying in representative conditions, with track temperatures different from those expected in qualifying in FP1 and FP3 with those sessions held earlier in the day.

But he insisted: "I felt pretty confident. We were moving in the right direction with the set-up. It is a shame to miss laps but on my side, I try to get ready and to deliver the best job tomorrow.

"I think quali is going to be very tight as always. With four-tenths for 10 cars, so it is going to be very tight but as I said, the pace felt pretty good today."

Russell finished 10th fastest, four-tenths off Lando Norris who set the fastest time of the day for McLaren.

The Latest Formula 1 News