Championship leader Antonelli brought down to earth by 'stupid' qualifying crash

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept 25 - Runaway Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli called the mistake that put him out of qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix "stupid" and said it had brought him back down to earth.

The 20-year-old, who leads Mercedes teammate George Russell by 81 points in the overall standings after 14 rounds, clobbered the wall at the first corner in the opening phase of qualifying and had to park up with a broken suspension.

He will start 16th with Russell storming to a dominant pole.

"I hit the wall and very unnecessary mistake so early on," the Italian told F1TV, explaining that he had simply misjudged the grip.

"It's a good way to come back to earth and to remind myself that I need to be on top of it every time because otherwise I do these mistakes and a very stupid one."

Antonelli came into the weekend gunning for his third straight win and ninth of the season so far.

But a hydraulics issue during opening practice on Thursday cost the Italian valuable track time.

He has trailed Russell, who has looked far more at ease around the 6km Baku street track, ever since.

Nevertheless, he is hoping the speed of the Mercedes can help him fight back.

"I'm looking forward to tomorrow," said Antonelli, who went from 19th to first at his home Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

"Hopefully we can recover many places.

"The car is quick. Hopefully tomorrow is going to be a good race." REUTERS