Antonelli admits he has ‘a lot to fight for’ from P2 on the grid for Sao Paulo Sprint

Kimi Antonelli has conceded that there is “a lot to fight for” as he prepares to line up on the front row of the grid for Saturday’s Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver having split the two McLarens during Sprint Qualifying.

Despite mixed fortunes in the opening segments of the session, Antonelli looked on the pace as SQ3 arrived, with the Italian proving to be polesitter Lando Norris’ closest challenger after setting a lap time just 0.097s adrift of that posted by Norris.

While Antonelli felt that the lap could have been better, the 19-year-old was pleased with his final result of P2.

“It was a good session overall,” Antonelli reflected afterwards. “I think SQ1 was a bit scrappy, a bit difficult with traffic but then we got into our rhythm. The soft [tyre] lap was a bit of a shame during the second to last sector, but still a decent lap. P2 for tomorrow, so a lot to fight for.”

With a potentially uncertain weather forecast for Saturday at Interlagos, Antonelli is aiming to be prepared for all eventualities in the penultimate Sprint of the season.

“We’re going to have to take care of the wing – it’s going to rotate quite a lot, so tomorrow we can expect quite different conditions compared to today,” the rookie explained. “Also the weather is going to be a bit uncertain, but we’ll try to be ready for anything and hopefully we can do a good race.”

It was also a solid outing for the other Mercedes car of George Russell, with the Briton placing just two positions behind his team mate in fourth – meaning that he will line up alongside McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

“I feel okay, to be honest,” Russell said of his Sprint Qualifying. “We were there or thereabouts the whole session. SQ3 was a funny one, I think everyone went a bit slower except Kimi, so he clearly did a good job so well done him. But for us, P2 and P4 is a good place to start.”

In terms of the prospects for the Sprint, Russell’s main target is to collect further points as Mercedes continue to battle against their rivals for second place in the Teams’ Championship.

“I think there’s a bit of rain forecast for tonight, so it might be a wet race tomorrow,” the 27-year-old said. “But we need to just keep getting these points now, and keep taking the fight to Red Bull and Ferrari.”