18/10/2025 09:10
Kimi Antonelli has conceded to encountering a shock failure of F1's
latest safety feature that left him "warming up". Ahead of this
weekend's United States Grand Prix, the FIA declared the event to
be a heat hazard given the extreme temperatures at the Circuit of
the Americas. The thermometer hit 33°C at the start of sprint
qualifying. For this season, the drivers have the option to wear a
new cooling vest through which ice water is pumped to aid comfort.
It is set to become mandatory for next season, although this has
become "a polarising subject" for the drivers, according to
Williams' Alex Albon, with many believing they should have the
option over whether to wear it or not. Mercedes driver Antonelli
wore the vest for sprint qualifying, only for it to surprisingly
let him down ahead of being knocked out of SQ2 by just six
thousandths of a second to Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton. "I struggled
in the car because I had a few physical issues," said Antonelli,
initially referring to the sole free practice session ahead of the
sprint shootout. "But the car felt good to be honest, and I was
confident in SQ2. I was wearing the cooling vest, and we had a
failure, so instead of cooling, it was warming me up, so I had a
big struggle in the session." Antonelli knows he should have made
it into SQ3 but encountered a lock-up on the approach to Turn 3
that undermined his bid to join team-mate George Russell in the top
10. "I just need to figure out why I suffered so much with
locking," said Antonelli. "It is obviously very disappointing
because SQ1 felt good. "But I just struggled with locking. I had
two big lock-ups on the lap and lost quite a lot of time. "I'm
disappointed as I had the pace to be in SQ3, but now we will focus
on Saturday."
