Kimi Antonelli admits Formula 1 title nerves and fatigue impacted his Mexico City Grand Prix qualifying performance. The Italian driver finished P4, half a second behind George Russell in Q3, struggling to find confidence on new tyres. Antonelli revealed he is still recovering from a high fever and stomach bugs sustained earlier in the week, which caused him to make mistakes.
He described feeling "very tired" and tense throughout the session, despite running build laps to heat his tyres. Lewis Hamilton secured pole by 0.009s over Russell, while Antonelli trails the Mercedes by a significant margin. He acknowledges tiredness was a major factor in his inconsistent laps but remains optimistic about the race, hoping for a clean start at Turn 1 to gain positions despite Mercedes' likely inferior race pace compared to Ferrari.
Source: Autosport F1 News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing