Kimi Antonelli: F1 Dutch GP sprint qualifying off cost “25 points of downforce”

Kimi Antonelli has revealed that his Turn 13 off during the Dutch Grand Prix’s sprint qualifying session had cost approximately “25 points of downforce”, after qualifying fifth for Saturday’s 24-lap Formula 1 race.

The championship leader opened the first stage of sprint qualifying and was running faster than team-mate George Russell, but faced a snap of oversteer through the penultimate corner and the correction ended up putting him into the gravel.

Antonelli, to his credit, was able to keep the car facing the right way and rejoined the track, but that lap had long since faded away and he only managed eighth in that phase of the session, almost 0.7s off Charles Leclerc‘s benchmark in SQ1. 

While the Italian was able to recover through sprint qualifying and put his car fifth in SQ3, he was over 0.2s down on Russell. A conservative estimate of the impact of the lost 25 points of downforce would come to an approximate half-second loss, although Antonelli stated that the team had been able to repair some of the floor to reinstate some of the load produced by the floor.

“I had a couple of holes in the floor,” Antonelli told Sky Sports F1. “So when I came in, they initially said it was a loss of 25 points. Then they tried to repair as much as possible, but yeah, definitely the damage was still there.

“I was struggling a lot in the low speed, but yeah, it’s what it is. I had a little bit too much entry speed in the last corner in that lap one and lost the rear and went through the gravel. And yeah, that was pretty much it.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

“And then obviously also was not easy to build the confidence back, but still, decently close. And we’ll have another go tomorrow.”

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff suggested that it was around a 20-point loss, rather than 25, but agreed it was “quite a big hit” with Antonelli’s error.

Antonelli will start the sprint race on the third row, behind Russell, and both McLarens – who were split by Leclerc’s Ferrari. The final laps of the top four drivers in sprint qualifying were all within a tenth of a second, demonstrating the closeness of 2026’s top three teams.

He says that this, allied to the tight and technical nature attributed to the Zandvoort circuit, will make it difficult to attempt to secure victory – but will at least have the opportunity to run with a new floor in full qualifying once parc ferme reopens post-sprint.

“We’ll try to do the best race we can. Of course it’s very close at the front, so it’s not going to be easy to overtake,” Antonelli added.

“But we’ll try to do the best we can, even with the damage. And then from qualifying, we’re going to tidy the car up and go again. Better luck tomorrow.”

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– The Motorsport.com Team