Antonelli Qualifies Second for Sao Paulo Sprint, Mercedes Optimistic despite Turn 10 Troubles
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – Kimi Antonelli secured second place for tomorrow’s Sprint Race at the 2025 Sao paulo Grand Prix following a dramatic Sprint Qualifying session, while teammate George Russell qualified fifth. Mercedes team members expressed satisfaction with the performance, notably given Antonelli’s debut at the Interlagos circuit, but acknowledged costly mistakes at Turn 10 hampered potential pole positions for both drivers.
Antonelli, driving in his first Sao Paulo Grand Prix, navigated a challenging qualifying session, initially finishing 15th in SQ1. “Today’s Sprint Qualifying session was really good. SQ1 was a little bit more stressful than expected, as we finished it in P15, but the car felt good and I was confident my lap was going too be good enough to get through,” he said. He progressed through the rounds, ultimately falling just short of pole. “My first push lap in SQ3 was looking really strong but a mistake at turn 10 likely cost me pole position for tomorrow’s Sprint. Many other drivers had moments though, so the conditions clearly weren’t easy; it’s a challenging track too but very enjoyable to drive. P2 is a good position to start from tomorrow and I want to thank the team,both in Brackley and Brixworth,for giving us the car to perform as we did today.”
Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin highlighted Antonelli’s remarkable adaptation to the track. “Considering Kimi hasn’t driven here before, a front row position after one hour of practice is very impressive. George also backed that up with yet another decent performance to put both cars in the top five.”
Shovlin detailed the team’s adjustments throughout the practice and qualifying sessions. “FP1 was a relatively smooth session but we knew we had work to do. Our performance looked solid on the Hard compound in the early running,but we struggled on the Medium tyre. The engineers did a good job to put the car in the right window for Sprint Qualifying and whilst it’s not perfect, it was clearly an betterment.” He explained that both drivers encountered issues at Turn 10. “george had a moment in turn six on his first push lap; that put a fair bit of temperature into the tyres which ultimately led to a slide in turn 10 and cost him a shot at the front row. Kimi looked set to improve on his final run but locked a wheel into turn 10 which cost him time and led to a messy final turn.”
Despite the near misses, the team remains focused on maximizing points over the remainder of the weekend. “All the weekend’s points still lie ahead of us so whilst we’re off to a decent start, we will be taking nothing for granted. We will likely see some challenging conditions over the next two days so we will need to be at our best and ensure we maximise each of the remaining three sessions over Saturday and Sunday.”
