Kimi Antonelli went into Q2 with a plan and came out with a deleted lap time for running wide — an expensive mistake that forced him back out on a fresh set of softs, burning a tyre set earmarked for Q3. The result: with only one set left for the final segment, the Italian felt the squeeze in a very literal way.

“It’s a shame because with only one set [of soft tyres], there was big pressure,” Antonelli admitted after qualifying. He wasn’t shy about what he thought he’d left on the table either: “I did what I could, but definitely with another set, we could have fought for front row – not P1, because Max was just too quick today. So probably front row was possible today.”

The irony arrived minutes later, when a five-place grid penalty for Isack Hadjar handed Antonelli exactly the position he’d just finished lamenting — the FIA correcting his on-track mistake for him. “Good news,” was his understated verdict on the promotion to third.

Looking ahead to Sunday, his focus shifts to tyres: “Deg is going to be very big – we’ll see if it’s going to be a matter of two stops, three stops,” he said, not ruling out rain complicating the strategy picture further.

Source: Formula1.com (https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/antonelli-rues-error-after-feeling-front-row-was-possible-during-qualifying-for-bahrain-gp-in-malaysia.4jQA29eVB7inxyf1UUxKwb)