F1 star reveals massive damage after Azerbaijan Grand Prix moment - 'I was driving like my grandmother'

Mercedes F1 star Kimi Antonelli has revealed that the tail end of his Azerbaijan Grand Prix comeback was stymied somewhat by heavy damage to his car.

The championship leader managed to fight his way up through the field on Saturday afternoon after starting 16th on the grid, his poor starting position the result of a session-ending crash early in qualifying.

Antonelli made it up to fifth by the end of the race, even passing one of his theoretical remaining title rivals Lewis Hamilton, who sits third in the championship standings after his sixth place finish.

The race nearly ended disastrously for the young Italian though, narrowly avoiding being caught up in a crash which ended three drivers' races at a safety car restart with 15 laps remaining.

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Antonelli: I was driving like my grandmother

That incident was sparked by Franco Colapinto horribly misjudging the first corner and spearing down the inside of the first corner, straight into the side of team-mate Pierre Gasly, knocking the Frenchman into Lando Norris outside him.

That crash prompted a couple of other sympathy crashes around it, with Arvid Lindblad spinning his team-mate Liam Lawson and, on the inside of the corner and easily missed, Ollie Bearman got into the left-hand side of Antonelli's Mercedes.

Speaking to the media after the race, the Italian admitted that he was trying to stay out of trouble around the tight street track – and revealed the extent of the damage from Bearman's contact, saying: “I was driving a bit like my grandmother today. Just damage safe mode. You know? Just didn’t take any risk.

“Before making a move, I was making sure that I could go for it. But at the same time, after the restart, I had the big floor damage. My whole left side was gone with the contact.”

Antonelli finished within half a second of Charles Leclerc ahead of him in fourth, and added: “After that, the car was very sketchy to drive and I still tried to get to P4, but all in all, it’s one of those days where you have to be happy with P5."

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