Lewis Hamilton replacement at Mercedes Kimi Antonelli suffers horror first F1 qualifying

Max Verstappen’s new team-mate Liam Lawson also endured a difficult first qualifying as a Red Bull Racing driver as, like Kimi Antonelli, he was knocked out in Q1

Kimi Antonelli lived out his nightmare in Melbourne on Saturday as he finished in the bottom five in his first qualifying session as a Formula 1 driver.

The Italian teenager makes his debut in the sport this weekend, having been selected last year to fill the seat vacated by Lewis Hamilton. But while the seven-time champion jumped the first qualifying hurdle in his Ferrari, his Mercedes replacement could not repeat the trick.

Antonelli, 18, looked to be suffering a problem on his car with the ride height which led to the floor dragging along the tarmac, sending sparks flying into the air. And that issue contributed to a disappointing Q1 exit.

He was on track to just avoid the bottom five until rookie Gabriel Bortoleto crossed the line for the final time in Q1 in his Sauber, and managed to set a time that was slightly quicker than what Antonelli had recorded and so it was the Mercedes man who was left disappointed.

A spokesperson for the team confirmed soon after that “bib damage” to the underside of Antonelli’s car “caused a loss of performance for his final two laps”. It was estimated that the problem was costing him three tenths of a second on every straight around the circuit compared to team-mate George Russell, on average.

Someone who could share his pain was Liam Lawson. The Kiwi is not a rookie having started 11 F1 races before this weekend, but his maiden race as Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull will begin near to the back of the grid after he was only able to go 18th fastest in that first part of qualifying.

Lawson had not had the smoothest of weekends up to that point, including missing final practice altogether with a problem on his car. A Red Bull spokesperson confirmed that there was an issue with his engine which was not fixed in time for him to get out on track, meaning he went into qualifying not as dialled in as his fellow drivers up and down the pit lane.

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