Photo: Prema
Andrea Kimi Antonelli feels he still has “something to prove” in Formula 2, especially in qualifying, after narrowly missing out on a maiden pole position in Baku.
On his first visit to the Azerbaijan capital, Antonelli was beaten to pole by just 0.017 seconds by veteran Richard Verschoor as he returned to the front row for the first time since Melbourne in March.
It came in his first qualifying session since his step up to Formula 1 for 2025 with Mercedes was confirmed at Monza two weeks ago, and Antonelli admitted he was “a bit disappointed” to miss out on pole.
“The session was good but of course P2 with just a small gap is always a bit frustrating,” the Prema driver said.
“I think it was a good session, I managed to build up lap by lap, managed to secure a good lap on set two which wasn’t easy because the red flag came out pretty early on during the first push, so it broke the rhythm. Being able to get back and deliver a good lap, I was happy with that.”
The Monza weekend included a crash early in Antonelli’s free practice debut for Mercedes and he admitted that “on the mental side it was really hard, but just to have the announcement finally was a good relief”.
“It’s been a few intense weeks but now I feel much better on the mental side that I can say it’s finally official,” he said, adding “I have to say I feel much better after the announcement, because now I can just fully focus on F2.”
Antonelli was later asked if he felt he still had something to prove in his last three rounds in F2.
“Of course, jumping from FREC to F2, I had all the eyes on me, and then [when everybody was] talking about me stepping up, for sure brought a lot of pressure, but I still I think I delivered pretty well.
“But I’m still learning in F2 and I’m still developing and I still have something to show. So yeah, I feel like I still have something to prove, especially in qualifying.
“I really want to get the first pole position. I’ve been close in Melbourne and close today, so yeah, I’ve still got a few things to prove.”
Antonelli said he “felt pretty comfortable” during his first day on the demanding Baku track and, looking ahead to Sunday, outlined where he believes he has improved since he last started a feature race on the front row in Australia.
“For sure, since Melbourne I have improved mainly in the racecraft as well as the starts. Looking at the past races, Baku is always crazy so we will see what will happen. Starting on the front row will help.”