Kimi Antonelli issued a stern 'this is not school' verdict by Jacques Villeneuve after another underwhelming qualifying for the F1 Dutch GP

Kimi Antonelli was issued a stern criticism by Jacques Villeneuve, who blasted the rookie's qualifying performance in the F1 Dutch GP. The young Italian was unable to make it to Q3 in qualifying, while teammate George Russell would start the race in P5.

This was another result in what has been a series of races where the rookie has been unable to keep up with his experienced teammate. On close observation, the gap between the final Q2 laps of both drivers was not as big, as it was less than 2 tenths, but the way F1 is right now, even a tenth is equivalent to a drop of multiple positions.

It did ultimately come down to the final lap where George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were separated by less than two tenths and while one Mercedes driver made it through to Q3, the other couldn't.

Talking to Sky Sports, Jacques Villeneuve was not impressed with the young Italian and felt that he needed to start putting the things together a bit more now. Emphasizing onhow you come to F1 ready and it is not a finishing school, he said,

"It's tough because he's already burnt himself up a bit. It's really hard to get back from that. The break was supposed to be the big reset and it wasn't. And you talk about age. No, that's not an excuse. Max was young. Lewis was young. There have been other young drivers. This is F1. It's the pinnacle. You arrive in F1 ready. This is not school,"

He added,

"You're supposed to do a few tough races and then you keep progressing like [Gabriel] Bortoleto has been doing. Antonelli has not been doing that."

Kimi Antonelli payments early race weekend error

Kimi Antonelli lamented an early race weekend error in FP1, where he beached the Mercedes and then had to sit out for the rest of the session. That put him on the back foot, and hence he had to do a long run in FP3, which further hurt his overall preparation.

Talking to Sky Sports Italia on how a small mistake in Q2 cost him a tenth and a Q3 slot, he said,

"It was a weekend that started off on an uphill slope. Going out in FP1 didn't help me, and I found myself a step back. I had to do a long run, and that didn't help. It's a shame because we were all very close. A mistake cost me a tenth of a second and cost me Q3."

Kimi Antonelli will start the race in P11 and will be hoping to make up places early, as it's not easy to overtake in Zandvoort. There's rain as well in the forecast, and that could mix things up as well.