Antonelli recovers to third in Austria after chaotic opening laps cost him more

Kimi Antonelli salvaged third place at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday despite a chaotic start that saw the Mercedes teenager go off the circuit three times in the opening two laps at the Red Bull Ring, finishing behind race winner George Russell and Max Verstappen.

Starting fourth, Antonelli carried too much speed into Turn 1 on lap one and was forced over the sausage kerb and onto the escape road, with a similar incident following at Turn 3. On lap two he attempted to pass Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for third at Turn 1, moved ahead, but ran wide at the corner exit and was forced to surrender the position. That allowed Verstappen to pounce, and Antonelli found himself fifth by the end of lap two.

The 19-year-old had entered the weekend in dominant form, topping both Friday practice sessions and holding provisional pole in qualifying before aborting his final lap — incorrectly believing Verstappen’s late crash had triggered double-waved yellow flags. The flags were single-waved, a distinction Antonelli acknowledged as his own error, and Russell converted the opportunity to take pole. Antonelli would likely have started second had he completed the lap.

“It was a weekend where I started very strong and I think because of that I kind of lowered the intensity a bit too much,” said Antonelli, who leads Russell by 40 points in the championship. “Starting from P4, first two laps were really bad for me and then I really struggled with the brakes and I just lost a lot of time because I started to do mistakes. Then the second stint was a bit better and third stint was really, really strong, the pace was there, but of course fell a bit short.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was direct in his assessment of where the race was decided. “The first few corners, this is where the race got lost,” he said. “Full attack mode, missing braking in Turn 1, missing braking in Turn 3, missing braking in Turn 4. But this is exactly what I expect from him. Like yesterday with the yellow, that’s never going to happen to him in his life again.”

Wolff’s framing was one of managed expectation rather than alarm — the errors of a sophomore driver in only his second F1 season, rather than a sign of deeper concern. Antonelli’s pace in the final stint underlined the raw speed that has carried him to the top of the standings, but Austria served as a reminder that consistency across a full race weekend remains a work in progress.