“Maybe F1 is just too much for him”: Kimi Antonelli’ faces Jacques Villeneuve's wrath after Leclerc incident

F1 rookie Kimi Antonelli crashed into Charles Leclerc at the 2025 Dutch GP, which pushed the Ferrari driver into the barrier, causing irreparable damage to the SF25, as the Monegasque had to retire the car. Former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve came out and slammed the Mercedes driver for the incident with Leclerc at Zaandvoort.

Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli ran P5 and P6 at the Dutch GP a little over midway through the race. George Russell was running behind the Ferrari driver, but was then instructed to let Antonelli by as the Briton had damage to his car following Leclerc's overtake on Lap 32.

Kimi Antonelli pitted on Lap 52 to undercut the Scuderia driver, and Charles Leclerc came in the next lap to cover the threat. As the Monegasque came out of the pits, the F1 rookie was hot on his tail and made an almighty dive-bomb attempt into the banked turn 3.

Antonelli wasn't able to control his car as he tried making a move on the inside, ran wide, and hit Charles Leclerc's Ferrari on his outside, pushing the Scuderia driver into the barrier, forcing the Monegasque to retire from the race.

F1 Grand Prix of Netherlands - Source: Getty

Jacques Villeneuve, who was with Sky F1 during the 2025 Dutch GP, came out and slammed Kimi Antonelli for the move, as he said,

“Very poor. A move that you might see in Formula 4, Formula 3 from a driver who doesn’t have experience and just not calculated the way it should be. When you’re in F1, you will make mistakes. You drive too hard your limit. But that was not even that. It was just badly calculated. He shouldn’t have done that.”

“And then he got all riled up, and speed limit as well. Maybe F1 is just too much for him,” added Villeneuve.

This wasn't the first time Kimi Antonelli caused a collision, as he also crashed into Max Verstappen on the opening lap at the 2025 Austrian GP and was given a penalty for the same.

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Kimi Antonelli reflects on the Dutch GP and the crash with Charles Leclerc

Kimi Antonelli was able to continue after the crash with Charles Leclerc and only suffered a front right tire deflation from the incident. However, he sped into the pit lane as he came in to get rid of the deflated tire. The Italian was given a penalty for the crash as well as the pitlane infringement.

Looking back at his race and the incident with Leclerc, Antonelli said,

“It’s a shame because the race was looking good, the pace was very strong and we were coming back and, yeah, I tried. It didn’t feel like I overshot massively, it was a bit unfortunate because, while I was trying to keep it tight, it came a bit down from the banking and that was the moment when the contact happened.” (Via F1)

“It was a shame, I feel sorry because obviously it’s not nice to take someone out. At least [there were] some positives today, and we move forward,” he added

Kimi Antonelli was given a 10-second penalty for the crash with Leclerc, along with two penalty points on his super licence. The rookie was awarded another 5-second penalty for the pitlane infringement.