F1 | Mercedes, Antonelli: "It was a stressful day. Today, the mechanics were the heroes."

From a morning explosion to a strong qualifying performance, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a two-faced Saturday at Melbourne's Albert Park. The young Italian driver, whose presence in the Australian afternoon seemed in jeopardy after his accident in the third free practice session, drove a strong session that saw him finish behind polesitter and teammate George Russell.

Antonelli even took provisional pole, making just one attempt in Q3, having to abort the first lap after a long one, with Russell subsequently lowering his time to set a best time of 1'18"518, almost three tenths of a second better than the twin W17.

We recall that the Italian driver ended up under investigation for unsafe condition, having lost the blowers still attached to the car while re-entering the track and subsequently hit by Lando Norris' McLaren: an episode that caused the session to be temporarily suspended to allow the track marshals to remove the debris scattered on the track.

“It was a really stressful day,” Antonelli said at the end of qualifying. “I hit the wall during free practice, but today the mechanics were heroes: they got the car back on track, even without a set-up. We just went out on track, and I'm very happy to have made it to the front row.”

On Q3, where he only made one attempt: “It wasn't easy. Next time I want a clean weekend because what happened certainly compromised qualifying in part. But tomorrow is the race and we can look forward, hoping for a good result.”