Antonelli admits title nerves left him driving tense and tired in Mexico City qualifying

Kimi Antonelli qualified fourth for the Mexico City Grand Prix on Saturday, conceding that a combination of illness, sleep deprivation, and Formula 1 title nerves had undermined his performance throughout the session. Lewis Hamilton took pole for Ferrari — his 105th career pole — edging Mercedes’ George Russell by just 0.009 seconds, while Antonelli found himself unable to string together a clean lap in Q3.

The 18-year-old Italian had shown genuine pace earlier in the day, finishing just 0.001 seconds behind Lando Norris in FP3, but qualifying told a different story. Antonelli ran build laps — adding a preparation lap before each timed run to generate tyre temperature — while Russell abandoned that approach on his final Q3 attempt and nearly snatched pole as a result.

Antonelli had already missed Thursday’s media duties with a fever and stomach problems, and he acknowledged he is still not fully recovered. “I feel very tired — I still haven’t recovered completely and it hasn’t been an easy weekend, to be fair,” he said. “I’ve definitely been a bit more tense than usual, especially when you keep hearing, wherever you go, any time of the day, the same thing. And people telling me that it’s already done, and knowing myself, I’ve been trying to block as much as possible this noise.”

He added that the illness had caused him to make mistakes across his laps, likely prompting him to drive conservatively in order to bank a usable qualifying time rather than push to the limit. “I felt decent in Q2, especially on the used tyre, but then in Q3, on the new tyre, I struggled to put a lap together, just to find the grip.”

On his recovery plan ahead of Sunday’s 71-lap race, Antonelli was characteristically direct: “I’ll bombard myself with melatonin” to get the sleep he needs.

Despite starting from fourth, Antonelli remained cautiously optimistic about his race prospects. Mercedes saved a set of new tyres for the grand prix, and he is targeting a clean getaway into the long run to Turn 1 as an opportunity to gain positions early. He did, however, temper expectations on outright pace, suggesting Ferrari may hold an advantage over the full race distance.

“It’s a long run into Turn 1, so it’s going to be important to get off the line well, and hopefully we can gain a couple of places,” he said.