{"id":2945,"date":"2026-09-27T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=2945"},"modified":"2026-09-30T17:05:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:05:37","slug":"antonelli-says-he-drove-like-my-grandmother-to-protect-damaged-mercedes-in-baku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/antonelli-says-he-drove-like-my-grandmother-to-protect-damaged-mercedes-in-baku\/","title":{"rendered":"Antonelli says he drove \u201clike my grandmother\u201d to protect damaged Mercedes in Baku"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">News Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Antonelli started 16th and finished fifth<\/strong> after crashing during qualifying in Baku.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The championship leader told a press conference attended by <strong>GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/strong> that he drove cautiously and checked each overtaking opportunity before committing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Contact with Oliver Bearman damaged the left side of his Mercedes floor<\/strong>, leaving the car difficult to drive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kimi Antonelli said he drove \u201clike my grandmother\u201d during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as he tried to bring his Mercedes home after a difficult weekend in Baku. Speaking at a post-race press conference attended by <strong>GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/strong>, the championship leader explained why his recovery from 16th on the grid to fifth was more cautious than his charge through the field to win at Monza earlier in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli\u2019s preparation had already been disrupted by a hydraulic problem that cost him running in first practice. In qualifying, he hit the inside wall at Turn 1 during Q1 and could not continue. His existing lap time was sufficient for 16th on the grid, but the mistake left him with less confidence for Saturday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI was driving a bit like my grandmother today, just damage save mode,\u201d Antonelli said. \u201cI didn\u2019t take risks. Before making a move, I was making sure that I could go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The approach meant Antonelli made gradual progress rather than forcing passes through the field. He reached the points after starting near the back, while teammate George Russell controlled the race from pole position. Safety Car periods then brought the pack together, giving Antonelli further opportunities to gain places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a restart, Antonelli made contact with Haas driver Oliver Bearman. The impact damaged the left side of the Mercedes floor and made an already difficult race harder to manage. Antonelli said he continued to pursue fourth place despite the change in the car\u2019s handling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAfter the restart, I had big floor damage. My whole left side was gone with the contact,\u201d Antonelli said. He described the car as unstable afterwards and said fifth was a result he had to accept, despite trying to gain another position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli\u2019s account adds detail to his assessment that Baku had been his <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/antonelli-calls-baku-his-worst-weekend-of-2026-despite-recovery-to-fifth\/\">worst weekend of the season<\/a>. He finished fifth behind Russell, Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar and Charles Leclerc. Russell\u2019s victory cut Antonelli\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/russell-cuts-antonellis-f1-championship-lead-to-66-points-with-baku-win\/\">Drivers\u2019 Championship lead to 66 points<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Mercedes drivers return to action at the <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/when-is-the-next-f1-race-after-the-2026-azerbaijan-grand-prix-date-start-time-and-full-schedule\/\">Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia<\/a> on October 2\u20134. The race will take place at Sepang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f1-2026-azerbaijao-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-01-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"F1 2026, AZERBAIJ\u00c3O, CORRIDA, MERCEDES, KIMI ANTONELLI\" class=\"wp-image-1020316133\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f1-2026-azerbaijao-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-01-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f1-2026-azerbaijao-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-01-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f1-2026-azerbaijao-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-01-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f1-2026-azerbaijao-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-01-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f1-2026-azerbaijao-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-01-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f1-2026-azerbaijao-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-01-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f1-2026-azerbaijao-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-01.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kimi Antonelli fez uma corrida de conten\u00e7\u00e3o de danos em Baku (Foto: Mercedes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">F1 today: FAQ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What time does F1 practice start at Sepang?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Friday practice begins on 2 October. FP1 starts at 05:30 BST in the UK, 10:00 IST in India and 14:30 AEST in Sydney and Melbourne. In New York and Toronto, it starts at 00:30 EDT; in Los Angeles and Vancouver, at 21:30 PDT on Thursday. FP2 begins three and a half hours later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is Esteban Ocon leaving Haas and retiring from F1?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ocon will leave Haas at the end of 2026, but says he intends to remain in Formula 1. He has not announced retirement and would consider a reserve role while seeking another race seat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What happened to Oscar Piastri at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piastri was running near the front in Baku before a mistake during a Safety Car restart dropped him out of podium contention. He finished 14th, adding to a difficult 2026 season for the McLaren driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why did Kimi Antonelli say he drove \u201clike my grandmother\u201d in Baku?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli said he <strong>avoided risky moves<\/strong> while recovering from 16th on the grid. He had crashed in qualifying, and contact during the race subsequently damaged his car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kimi Antonelli said he avoided risks while recovering to fifth in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. A qualifying crash had shaken his confidence, and contact with Oliver Bearman later damaged the floor of his Mercedes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020316148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Antonelli explains cautious Azerbaijan GP recovery","42wp_featured_image_credits":"Mercedes","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[{"id":21,"location":"Baku"},{"id":31,"location":""}],"footnotes":"","42wp_breaking_news":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[632,325,314,16],"42wp_author":[31,21],"class_list":["post-2945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-azerbaijan-grand-prix","tag-f1-2026","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-mercedes","42wp_author-bernardo-castro","42wp_author-leonid-kliuev"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945","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=2945"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3091,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945\/revisions\/3091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020316148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2945"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=2945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}