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Kimi Antonelli

Antonelli calls upgraded Mercedes unpredictable after Singapore Sprint Qualifying P7

Archive photograph: Kimi Antonelli · 2025-10-17Archive photo · 2025-10-17 · Kuyper · CC BY-SA 4.0

After finishing seventh in Friday’s Singapore Sprint Qualifying, Kimi Antonelli called the upgraded Mercedes difficult and unpredictable. He said he could not see where the team could find seven tenths of a second in lap time; his Sprint Qualifying lap was 0.693 seconds off pole-sitter Max Verstappen.

GPBeat · Newsroom09 Oct 2026, 19:56 · 1 min

After finishing seventh in Friday’s Singapore Sprint Qualifying, Kimi Antonelli said the upgraded Mercedes was difficult and unpredictable to drive. He said it was hard to put a lap together.

Antonelli said he had arrived with high hopes but expected a difficult weekend unless Mercedes found something on Saturday. He could not see where the team could find seven tenths of a second. His Sprint Qualifying lap was 0.693 seconds slower than pole-sitter Max Verstappen’s, almost exactly seven tenths.

Mercedes split its specifications in Singapore after results from the Sepang updates proved inconclusive. George Russell returned to the Azerbaijan specification, while Antonelli kept the upgrade Mercedes had brought to Malaysia. Russell topped Friday’s sole practice session and finished second in Sprint Qualifying; Antonelli was seventh in both sessions.

Sources 03
  1. PRIMARY SOURCEAntonelli struggling with ‘very difficult’ new-spec carFormula 1
  2. PRIMARY SOURCERussell reacts to P2 in Sprint Quali with downgraded carFormula 1
  3. SOURCEKimi Antonelli pessimistic for F1 Singapore GP with upgraded MercedesMotorsport.com F1

This article was produced with AI assistance. Source references make its supporting evidence traceable.

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  3. Two-day conversion rules out full return to old Mercedes spec for Antonelli in Singapore

  4. Antonelli says updated Mercedes was difficult after Singapore Sprint Qualifying

  5. Russell calls Mercedes’ older car ‘not bad’ after provisional second place in Singapore Sprint Qualifying