Mercedes reveals damage on Antonelli's car, which cost him qualifying run

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was eliminated from Q1 in Australia.

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli was eliminated from Q1 in Australia. The Italian driver will start the race from the 16th position on the grid.

Antonelli's W16 was running incredibly low to the ground with sparks spotted underneath the bib. With just seconds to go until the end of Q1, Antonelli was sitting 15th but was ultimately knocked out by fellow rookie driver Gabriel Bortoleto in the last moment.

Mercedes confirmed to the media, including Motorsport.com:

"We saw bib damage on Kimi’s car during his second run. That caused a loss of performance for his final two laps, unfortunately."

The Brackley driver reacted to his early qualifying exit:

"I did the same, to be honest, I did the same line as FP3.

"It's just there was a big plot of gravel on the curb, and when I went through, it picked up quite a bit of damage.

"I mean I was losing quite a bit on the straights first of all because the floor was scrubbing on the track.

Andrea Kimi, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

"And then I lost quite a bit of air load because obviously the floor was not aligned as well because one part was on the tarmac scratching, so definitely it was quite the changeable conditions.

"I mean obviously it's raining [tomorrow], so many things can happen and we'll try to build something good from there with the progress.

"I think [it] was very, very positive, so that's why it's quite disappointing the result, because I felt we could have gone for a much better position, but it is what it is, and we'll try to move on and see what we can do tomorrow."

Speaking ahead of qualifying, Mercedes chief Toto Wolff explained:

"Kimi is just making step by step by step, and it's really encouraging to see," Wolff said ahead of qualifying. "He's clearly a very, very good driver in the future in Formula One, and then you're getting on the wrong foot, and you're crashing. And then the next day you're just eager to compensate and then it's another thing that creeps in and here you go, you haven't done any session properly.

"And you know, as a driver you want to disappear in that moment, but he's going to get there. It's the first weekend, that wasn't a great start, but there's 23 more race weekends to come.

"[As a team principal you have] no choice then to put your arm around him and say that that's OK, because the more pressure you put [on], the more difficult it's gonna become for you."

On the other side of the garage, Antonelli's Mercedes team-mate George Russell secured a second-row start in P4 alongside Red Bull's Max Verstappen in third. Lando Norris will start from pole position beside Oscar Piastri forming a McLaren lockout.