Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Andrea Kimi Antonelli is targeting a top-three finish in the Formula 2 standings after making the podium in the feature race in Baku with a damaged car.
This third place added to victories in the sprint race at Silverstone and the feature race at the Hungaroring. The Prema driver is currently sixth in the drivers’ championship, just 22 points off the third position held by Zane Maloney of Rodin Motorsport, which he has now set as his year-end goal for the 2024 season.
“We’ve been improving weekend by weekend, so definitely I didn’t expect to be so close to P3 in the championship,” he told media including Formula Scout after the race. “So that is the goal, to at least finish on the on the podium in the championship. That would be really nice. So yeah, we’ll just keep working hard in order to achieve that.”
The Mercedes Formula 1 junior lined up in second place after missing out on pole by 0.017 seconds in Friday’s qualifying. He dropped behind ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins soon after the red flag restart, as he struggled a little bit with the pace on super-softs. He regained the position in the pit-lane but an incident with Maloney, who made the overcut work, impacted his race and prevented him from fighting the top two.
“We had a good pit stop and a decent out lap and then Zane just came in front of me with cold tyres, so I knew I had to make the move,” he explained. “One of the best spots was T3 because usually it’s quite a difficult braking there on cold tyres. He tried still to defend the position. In my opinion, he braked a bit too late and he locked up.
“In the corner I was on the limit as well under braking, and I was going into the escape road as well, so I had to turn at one point. I got squeezed into the wall and made contact and unfortunately, I lost the position [to Martins] as well.
“I definitely got damage. The front suspension was bent and the car under braking was pulling on one side and then in the right corners it was really understeery. So, it was a bit difficult to manage, but still happy to come away with the P3.”
The Italian also expanded on his comments earlier in the weekend, when he stated he still had “something to prove” in F2.
“As a driver, you have to be always [a] critic with yourself. I mean, you always try to push yourself even further, and you can never be satisfied. Even when you do a great weekend, there’s always something that you can do better.
“My dad really taught me since a very young age that, to always push myself to do even better and to always see what I can do better, even when I do a great weekend. So I don’t think I was being harsh on myself. It’s just the way I am.”