'Worst of the year': Antonelli criticises own performance in Azerbaijan Grand Prix

[p]The 20-year-old Italian rescued fifth place after starting 16th on the grid, following a crash in qualifying, and said he had driven in a 'safety-first' mode - unlike his home Italian Grand Prix where he won from 19th on the grid in sensational style.[/p][p]His prudence signalled he was driving with one eye on the title race and wished to avoid joining several other drivers in not finishing the race.[/p][p][b]"Today is one of those days where you have to be happy with P5," [/b]he said.[/p][embed guid="c612c008-6583-4ab8-b583-4c1c38229330" url="https://x.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/2103828646276563007" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]"It was not an easy race at all, but overall one of those weekends where I was always a step behind after missing a lot of practice.[/b][/p][p][b]"George has driven incredibly this weekend and had a lot of confidence. This was my worst of the year by far in terms of performance.[/b][/p][p][b]"I didn't take the same risks especially after qualifying and today was more 'damage-safe mode' instead of full attack."[/b][/p]