Kimi Antonelli’s tumultuous rookie season in F1 took another hit, after he deprived himself of a healthy points finish at the Dutch Grand Prix, with two separate incidents.
The 19-year-old was looking at a potential top five finish, for the first time since June’s Canadian Grand Prix, when he clipped Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari through Zandvoort’s banked third turn.
The Mercedes driver had pitted a lap before Leclerc, and the Monegasque re-joined the track only a few car lengths ahead. But through the banked left-handed turn that shortly followed, Leclerc took the normal racing line on the outside.
But Antonelli took the more unconventional route, on the inside. But when Leclerc turned onto the exit of the corner, Antonelli’s shallow angle on corner entry, catapulted him into the side of the Ferrari.
📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
Leclerc was out on the spot and Antonelli continued, albeit with damage. Having pitted for repairs at the end of the lap, he was awarded with a 10-second time penalty for the crash.
However, his trip to the pit lane also got him in hot water with the FIA, as he was found to have sped. Hence, another five seconds were added to his race time.
Huge contact between Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc! 💥
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) August 31, 2025
A second Ferrari crashes out of the Dutch GP ❌ pic.twitter.com/HCmEvPGcJL
Already not ideal, this proposition became a nightmare when a late-race safety car was issued, when Lando Norris exited the race. This meant that the field bunched up, and the Italian only had four laps to build a gap of 15 seconds, over anyone who may then finish ahead.
That was not enough time, and he was eventually classified in P16.
After the race, an understandably downbeat Antonelli visited Ferrari, in the hope of apologising to Charles Leclerc.
And the Maranello team principal sympathised with the rookie, he told ESPN: “Charles was not there, but he came to me. And honestly, I appreciate this.
“It’s not easy to overtake in Zandvoort. It means that you have to take a risk. He took a risk. He made a mistake.”
Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc added: “I wouldn’t describe it as a rookie mistake. I think it’s just a mistake which can happen in the first year of the fifth year. On a track like this you need to be aggressive, but that was too much.”
Because Antonelli finished the race, and had his penalty applied in-race, this will not affect his Italian Grand Prix weekend. Unlike Lewis Hamilton, whose debut Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari will start with a five-place grid penalty, after he failed to slow for yellow flags on his pre-race reconnaissance laps.