‘Today we didn’t deserve to win,’ Antonelli admits after lucking out in Madrid

Kimi Antonelli says he didn’t deserve to win the Spanish Grand Prix, as Lando Norris was disadvantaged by the timing of a Virtual Safety Car.

Lance Stroll stopped on track early in the race and the VSC was required to clear his Aston Martin, but it was deployed just after Norris passed the pit entry. Antonelli – running second – was able to pit while the race was neutralized, and Norris was approaching the pit entry on the following lap when racing resumed, with a slow pit stop dropping him to third at the flag.

“It’s good to win and I think the pace at the end was good,” Antonelli said. “But if I have to be realistic and honest, today we didn’t deserve to win. Lando deserved to win today, and so I think our result was probably P2 or even P3.

“I just didn’t do a good enough job at the start, being a bit too aggressive and then putting myself in a bad position. So definitely things to work on. All in all, today went well and I’m happy with that. But we’re just going to try to be better in Baku.”

Antonelli was overtaken by Max Verstappen on the opening lap but the Red Bull driver had to give up a place to Lewis Hamilton, allowing the championship leader back through in the process to run second.

“I did try, but obviously Lando is not going to let me pass by,” Antonelli said. “He did what he had to do. I found myself cutting the chicane twice. In the second chicane I thought I could maybe make it, but I felt like it was too risky also for contact so I decided to bail out. And then I was a bit in an awkward position because then Max could overtake me on the outside in Turn 7. So definitely things to review, but it was still a great team effort.

“I was a bit confused because I didn’t think [Verstappen] overtook me off track. He overtook me normally. So, I was a bit confused in the first place, but then he told me that he had to give the position back to Lewis. So, of course it was a bit awkward, especially for him because also Lewis was experiencing brake issues. So that’s why I think today the win is great, but not the way I wanted to win.”

Despite opening up an 81-point advantage at the top of the standings, Antonelli is still sticking firmly to his mantra of not looking at the bigger title picture.

“It’s great, but we’ve just got to keep pushing, keep delivering the results and just trying to do the best job I can whenever I go on track,“ he said. “Because, of course, yes, I have a big lead, but you never know what can happen. So I just need to be ready for anything and keep maximizing every opportunity I get, and then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the year.”