Kimi Antonelli Looks Forward to a Thrilling Belgian GP After Clinching Pole
Kimi Antonelli secured his sixth pole position of the season at Spa, preparing for a challenging race day. Despite earlier setbacks, he aims to convert this advantage into victory.
Kimi Antonelli found the sweet spot on his final qualifying lap at Spa-Francorchamps, securing his sixth pole position of the season. The Mercedes driver acknowledged that the path to pole wasn't entirely smooth, despite eventually outpacing rivals by over three-tenths.
After dominating in FP2 and FP3, Antonelli faced some initial struggles during the qualifying session. He lagged behind competitors like Max Verstappen and George Russell in Q1, with Russell managing to outpace him for the first time that weekend. However, Antonelli quickly found his rhythm, leading the timesheets in the second segment of qualifying before completing a stellar lap. His final time of 1m 44.361s edged out Verstappen's Red Bull by an impressive 0.317 seconds.
Reflecting on his performance, Antonelli said, "It's great to be on pole. It was not a very straightforward session with the track changing a lot, but we improved with each lap and secured pole, which was nice." He added, "Tomorrow is another day. With Max starting next to me, it's crucial to get a good start and aim to be ahead by Turn 5."
Antonelli's last lap was particularly strong in Sector 2, a performance he was pleased with despite acknowledging some room for improvement. "The lap was clean, and I'm very happy," he remarked.
The Italian is eager to shake off a streak of bad luck that saw him retire in Barcelona, miss a win in Austria, and finish without points at Silverstone. Despite Mercedes' reliability issues, Antonelli has a knack for turning pole positions into race wins and hopes to do so again in the Belgian Grand Prix, which could expand his lead in the Drivers' standings.
Looking ahead to the race, Antonelli emphasized, "A good start and maintaining strong pace are key. Degradation will be significant, but we'll try our best to maximize performance. It's going to be fun tomorrow."
Antonelli is aiming for his first victory since Monaco when the race kicks off at 1500 local time on Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps.