Kimi Antonelli says his crash in qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was “stupid” and “a good way to come back to earth” as he pursues his first world title.

The Mercedes driver, who has been running away with the championship this season, hit a wall in first qualifying in Baku and will start Saturday’s race 16th.

Team-mate George Russell, his closest pursuer in the title race, starts from pole after a dominant performance.

Antonelli said: “I misjudged with the grip being so different compared to the first lap. I hit the wall. Unnecessary mistake early on.

“So it’s a good way to come back to earth and to remind myself I need to be on top of it every time because otherwise I do these mistakes and a very stupid one.”

He added that he was “very mad about it”.

The 20-year-old Italian has been on the back foot all weekend, fighting to make up for time lost to a reliability problem in practice on Thursday.

His Mercedes suffered a hydraulic leak halfway through the first session and the car was not ready for him to go back out on track until halfway through the second session.

Antonelli was 0.252secs behind Russell in final practice on Friday, 0.092secs quicker than the Briton after his first lap in qualifying and then made his mistake on his second.

His error brought back memories of last year’s grand prix in Baku, which proved to be a turning point in the 2025 championship.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri appeared on course for his first world title heading into this race, leading team-mate Lando Norris by 31 points.

But the Australian crashed in qualifying, jumped the start and then crashed out of the race on the first lap, and his season came off the rails after that.

Antonelli’s error gives Russell, who is 81 points adrift in the championship, a second chance in three races to narrow his deficit to the Italian.

But the Briton has sounded resigned to losing out on the title for some time and he referred back to Antonelli’s stunning drive at the Italian Grand Prix, which he won after starting 19th on the grid because of a penalty.

Russell said: “You can’t discount Kimi. You know, started 19th in Monza and now he’s in 16th, so, yeah, he should be leading by a few laps early this time.”

Russell also pointed out that this was the first significant mistake Antonelli had made in a competitive session all year.

Asked if he believed Antonelli’s mistake was a result of “title jitters”, Russell said: “When you look at every championship campaign, even for the winners, there are mistakes along the way.

“So, I still keep on believing and keep on fighting until it isn’t possible any more. But I don’t feel any pressure.

“I feel excitement every time I jump in the car now, purely because I feel more confident in myself.

“When that confidence starts to build, it’s just like this upward cycle.

“On the flip side, when you’re on the back foot, you start losing that confidence and then you start pushing the limits more, and that’s when mistakes happen.

“But he’s been flawless this season. It’s the first mistake he’s made in a qualifying or race this whole year.”

Russell’s pole margin was a massive 0.837secs, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc second and Piastri third.

The Baku street circuit has a long straight that affords good overtaking possibilities and has a reputation for producing incident-packed races.

Asked about potential challengers in the race, in addition to Antonelli, Russell said Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who qualified eighth after a difficult session, “is going to be a threat”.

Verstappen, who was quickest in final practice just ahead of Russell, suffered a string of problems that he said had stopped him taking a place on the front row alongside the Mercedes.

“The whole qualifying was not how it should be,” he said.

“Already from Q1 the engine was 0.5secs down on the straight compared to my team-mate and they can’t explain or understand why. So you’re on the back foot.

“Then in Q3 on my middle lap my battery didn’t charge to 100% so I had to abort the lap which means you lose tyre temp and around here that’s killing.

“I tried to push… but being down on top speed and I had a yellow flag from Lando in front of me, [which] meant that’s where we are.”

The Dutchman added: “The whole weekend we were running really well and then we run into so much trouble in qualifying. It’s not good enough.

“Looking at George’s lap, I don’t think we would have fought for pole but there is a big gap behind and we should have slotted in to that easily.

“But when you have that many issues you also don’t deserve to be there. We need to be more robust and we need to be on top of these things.”