Antonelli: Excited to be starting at the front

The young Italian has looked on form all weekend long, as he has been the closest to a dominant Lando Norris since Friday.

Antonelli placed his Mercedes W16 on the front row for the Sprint race, which he duly converted into second place after 24 laps of the Interlagos Circuit the next morning.

The Mercedes driver will line up beside Norris again on Sunday after qualifying ahead of the likes of Charles Leclerc and a struggling Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren.

In a press release by Mercedes, Antonelli was content with his performance in Qualifying.

He said: "I am really happy to be starting on the front row for tomorrow's race. Qualifying was not easy with a lot of unexpected wind gusts, but we managed to put everything together from Q1 to Q3.

"We were able to put the tyres in the right window, and we did a solid job as a team, putting a good lap together at the end when it mattered," Antonelli stated.

The 19-year-old believes that increasing confidence in his car has been the main factor in his step-up in performance this weekend.

He continued: "Throughout the weekend, I've been more and more comfortable with the car, and I've been enjoying racing on this track. The crowd is amazing here and it gives a lot of energy to perform at your best.

"I'm excited to be starting at the front, can hopefully fight the cars around us, and look to add some good points in our battle for P2 in the Constructors' Championship," concluded the Italian youngster.

Antonelli's teammate George Russell was a lot less satisfied with his performance. The Briton qualified in sixth place, and admitted that he was a little bit confused as to why he couldn't put in a good lap.

He told

"I couldn’t get [the tyres] switched on, I couldn’t find that sweet spot and I was just sliding around. So it was a bit of a shame but part of me when I see Max and Lewis, how bad it could have been, I think we made the best of a bad situation.

"On days like this when the tyres aren’t working one driver’s driving just can get the tyres switched on and another driver’s driving doesn’t. This has been probably one of the more obscure qualifying sessions of the year.

"Kimi has done a great job all weekend to be honest, so credit to him, but it obviously was a very odd session," added the Mercedes driver.

Nevertheless, Russell is confident he can gain a few positions, although a podium seems unlikely.

He added: "I hope we can move forward, I'm confident we can move forward. But we’ve obviously got Piastri there, he’ll be pretty quick. Charles is maybe the unknown.

"But realistically to get on the podium, at least from my side, I don’t think we have the pace this weekend," concluded Russell.