Antonelli crashes five laps into Mercedes debut
Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed out of practice just 10 minutes into his FP1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix.
Antonelli was making his first appearance during a race weekend for Mercedes, having been heavily tipped to be confirmed as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement at some stage over the coming days at Monza. The Italian had already completed Formula 2 practice earlier in the day when he jumped in the W15, but managed just five laps before crashing.
Having gone fastest on his first timed lap on soft tires, Antonelli was on his second attempt and looking set to regain top spot from teammate Hamilton when he lost control at Parabolica — the high-speed final right hander of the lap — and went spinning into the barrier.
Antonelli suffered a heavy impact but reported to the team on the radio that he was OK, with the session red flagged immediately to recover the car and rearrange the tire barrier on the outside of the corner.
Mercedes confirmed it has spares of the new floor that Antonelli was running, but the team will have to assess any potential damage to the power unit — one of George Russell’s allocation — after fitting a complete new engine for the Monza weekend.
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