Andrea Kimi Antonelli admitted his Spanish Grand Prix victory didn’t feel as good as his other victories.
The Mercedes driver took the lead as he was able to make his pit stop during a Virtual Safety Car period. Early leader Lando Norris was not able to.Norris fell to third place after making his pit stop under green flag conditions. His misfortune was compounded by a slow tyre change.
Antonelli was pleased with his win but admitted Norris deserved to take the victory. “It was a very difficult race,” he said, “not straightforward at all, especially trying to manage tyres.
“But I think today it’s good to win, but it doesn’t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved the win. But overall we’ll take it.
“Other than that, it was a really strong race, I think, especially on the hard at the end we had really good pace. Now we’ve got to keep pushing.”
Norris pitted seconds after the VSC ended. He said “there was nothing I could do” about how the timing affected his race.
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“Luck was not on our side,” he said. “I gave it a good fight to try and catch up with Max [Verstappen] but it was difficult to pass, he didn’t really make any mistakes.
“It was a tough race, one that just got away from us. I felt like we deserved it today, but that’s racing sometimes. We’ll take it on the chin and try again next time.”
The McLaren driver said he drove a perfect race and the defeat was “tough” to take.
“These things don’t come easy,” he said. “I do feel like I’m working hard and I’m getting a lot out of the car.
“Yesterday was a pretty phenomenal lap to get a pole. I feel like I drove a perfect race today. It’s just luck wasn’t with me.”
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