{"id":2738,"date":"2026-09-24T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=2738"},"modified":"2026-09-24T11:01:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:01:05","slug":"antonelli-recovers-to-baku-p2-after-losing-track-time-and-suffering-small-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/antonelli-recovers-to-baku-p2-after-losing-track-time-and-suffering-small-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Antonelli recovers to Baku P2 after losing track time and suffering small fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The F1 championship leader missed substantial running across both Thursday sessions but recovered to second place behind George Russell and said he already feels comfortable in the Mercedes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">News Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Kimi Antonelli recovered to second place in Azerbaijan GP FP2 despite missing substantial running<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Mercedes driver said he feels comfortable in the car but still has areas to improve before qualifying<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Antonelli confirmed that his W17 briefly caught fire and explained why he wanted marshals to use more extinguisher<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kimi Antonelli described his second place in Azerbaijan GP FP2 as a strong recovery after mechanical problems severely reduced his running across both Thursday sessions in Baku.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Formula 1 championship leader lost more than half of FP1 after stopping at Turn 7 with a hydraulic failure. Mercedes subsequently changed the engine in his W17, delaying his return during the second practice session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli only joined FP2 after the red flag caused by Arvid Lindblad\u2019s crash, leaving him approximately 30 minutes to complete his qualifying and race preparation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the restricted programme, the Italian completed 16 laps and set a 1:43.899 to finish second, <strong>0.552s behind Mercedes team-mate George Russell<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to Ted Kravitz of <em>Sky Sports F1<\/em> after the session, Antonelli said Mercedes had extracted the maximum possible from a difficult day. \u201cWe tried to do the maximum with what we had. Obviously, we lost quite a few laps in FP1 and then missed half of FP2,\u201d Antonelli said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 20-year-old admitted that the lack of running was particularly costly around Baku\u2019s unforgiving street circuit. \u201cIt\u2019s never ideal, especially at a street circuit, but overall I feel like it was a good recovery,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Antonelli feels confident despite limited Baku running<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli\u2019s late FP2 programme included at least one brush with the barriers, but he rapidly found pace on the soft tyres and moved into second place during his final qualifying simulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Italian was unable to challenge Russell\u2019s 1:43.347, but finished 0.275s ahead of Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were more than one second away from the FP2 benchmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli said the limited mileage had not prevented him from establishing a positive feeling with the W17. \u201cI feel quite good in the car. Obviously, there are a few things to work on, but I\u2019m looking forward to tomorrow,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/russell-leads-azerbaijan-gp-fp2-antonelli-second-lindblad-crashes\/\">complete Azerbaijan GP FP2 results<\/a> confirmed a Mercedes one-two, with Russell completing a sweep of Thursday practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Antonelli confirms Mercedes briefly caught fire<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli also clarified the unusual scenes that followed his FP1 stoppage. Marshals covered the rear of the Mercedes with extinguisher foam while recovering the car, with some of the spray also hitting the driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kravitz asked whether Antonelli had been telling the marshals to stop and leave the car. The Mercedes driver revealed that his reaction had meant precisely the opposite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli confirmed that he was encouraging the marshals to continue because a small fire had developed around the car. \u201cNo, actually, I wanted them to spray a bit more because, unfortunately, I caught a bit of fire,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Italian added that the flames did not cause significant damage. \u201cLuckily, it didn\u2019t do much damage. I was just encouraging them to go, but they did what they could,\u201d Antonelli explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His account updates the circumstances behind the <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/video-antonelli-receives-an-unexpected-extinguisher-shower-after-stopping-in-baku\/\">extinguisher shower that followed his FP1 hydraulic failure<\/a>. Initial footage had not clearly shown flames, but Antonelli has now confirmed that a small fire was present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mercedes has not indicated that the engine change will result in a grid penalty. Antonelli therefore enters Friday\u2019s qualifying day in second place on the practice timesheets and with an <strong>81-point lead over Russell in the championship<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 returns on Friday with FP3 at <strong>09:30 UK and 04:30 ET<\/strong>, followed by qualifying at <strong>13:00 UK and 08:00 ET<\/strong>. The Azerbaijan GP starts on Saturday at <strong>12:00 UK and 07:00 ET<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/strong> follows every session of the Azerbaijan GP <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/\">LIVE and in REAL TIME<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">FAQ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why did Kimi Antonelli miss track time in Baku?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli stopped with a hydraulic failure during FP1. Mercedes then changed his engine, delaying his participation in FP2 until the second half of the session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The F1 championship leader missed substantial running across both Thursday sessions but recovered to second place behind George Russell and said he already feels comfortable in the Mercedes News Summary Kimi Antonelli described his second place in Azerbaijan GP FP2 as a strong recovery after mechanical problems severely reduced his running across both Thursday sessions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020315802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Antonelli recovers to second in Baku after missing half of FP2","42wp_featured_image_credits":"AFP","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[{"id":7,"location":""}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[517,325,314,16],"42wp_author":[7],"class_list":["post-2738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-azerbaijan-gp","tag-f1-2026","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-mercedes","42wp_author-victor-martins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2739,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2738\/revisions\/2739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020315802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2738"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=2738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}