"Racehorse" Kimi Antonelli on his P3 in Austria: Too many mistakes and maybe I relaxed too much

The Mercedes teenager arrived in Spielberg on the back of a dominant Friday and remained one of the favourites throughout the weekend. But after qualifying fourth, Antonelli struggled in the early stages of Sunday's race before producing an impressive late recovery that left him wondering what might have been.

Speaking afterwards, the Italian 19-year-old: "I started the race and made a lot of mistakes. I was struggling with the brakes, I had a split with the brakes and I was struggling to attack braking. I really struggled in that first stint, made a lot of mistakes. Second stint I reset and then third stint was really strong but I just arrived to the party a bit too late."

Antonelli explained that starting behind the front row made the opening phase especially challenging: "I knew starting from P4 would have been difficult and the first laps were really bad, I was a bit all over the place. I made my way back slowly but there will be weekends where George is going to be in front and weekends where I will be in front."

"He's very strong, he's very complete, especially in qualifying he still has that little bit of edge, to squeeze out a bit more performance," he added.

Antonelli estimated his mistakes during the opening stint cost him several crucial seconds that ultimately prevented him from challenging Russell and Max Verstappen in the closing stages.

He said: "I was a bit too excited on the first few laps. Definitely didn't drive well. I did too many mistakes and on the first stint on the medium, I lost three or four seconds with the mistakes. I was struggling with the brakes."

After his first pit stop, however, the Mercedes driver rediscovered his pace and became one of the fastest cars on track: "After I changed tyres, I reset and the pace at the end was very strong. It was a shame I joined the party a bit too late.

"Two, three more laps would have been more fun, of course. Congrats to George. Really great weekend. On my side, there's a lot to improve, but still minimise the mistakes," admitted the Mercedes driver.

Despite the disappointment of missing out on victory, Antonelli viewed the weekend as another important step in his development.

"This was a good learning weekend for me, especially after starting so strong," Wolff said. "I lost my rhythm a little bit, maybe I relaxed too much or was too confident. Now we will be back stronger in Silverstone."

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was encouraged by Antonelli's aggressive mindset, even if it ultimately proved costly during the opening laps.

"I am very proud of Kimi," Wolff said. "He was very eager in the beginning to get the victory done in the first couple of laps and that cost him but I liked the enthusiasm."

Rather than criticising his driver, Wolff said the mistakes were part of the learning process.

"He just goes for it. We want a driver to be full on the attack all the time. You can't accelerate a donkey but you can calm down a racehorse."

Antonelli's recovery to third ensured Mercedes celebrated a double podium at the Red Bull Ring, with Russell taking victory and strengthening the team's growing momentum.

While the Italian left Austria frustrated by his own errors, both driver and team agreed the lessons learned could prove invaluable ahead of next weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone. He leads Russell by 40 points in the F1 Drivers' standings.