'I feel a bit empty' – Antonelli reflects on late Barcelona-Catalunya GP retirement

Kimi Antonelli admits feeling "a bit empty" after a late mechanical issue denied the Mercedes driver from claiming a podium in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

The 19-year-old was on course to finish second in Sunday's 66-lap race behind race winner Lewis Hamilton, Antonelli having overtaken Mercedes team mate George Russell in the closing stages at Turn 1.

But having just moved ahead of Russell, Antonelli's Mercedes came to a halt out on track, bringing the Italian's run of five Grand Prix victories to an end and registering his first retirement of the season.

"I feel a bit empty to be fair right now, but it is what it is," said Antonelli. "Races are like this and it comes and goes.

"For sure the pace was good today. I struggled a little bit in stint one but stint two and three, I felt like I had quite a lot of pace and of course it's a shame because it was like three laps from the end, almost there. But as I said, races are like this, it's no one's fault and now we look forward to the next one."

Antonelli had started behind both Russell and Hamilton, with Mercedes employing a two-stop strategy as opposed to Ferrari, who placed Hamilton on a three-stop due to the hot conditions.

The seven-time World Champion showed impressive pace but likely would have had to re-pass both Mercedes drivers after making his final pit stop.

That was until a short VSC allowed Hamilton to pit and rejoin in the lead, with Antonelli believing if he had got ahead of Russell earlier, he might have been able to stop Hamilton from claiming his first Grand Prix win with Ferrari.

"First of all, I'm very happy for Lewis because he's been chasing that first win with Ferrari for so long and I'm really happy for him to see him succeed in that," said Antonelli, who sits 41 points ahead of Hamilton in the Drivers' standings.

"I think if I could have made a move in stint two on George, [it] would have been a bit of a different race because, as I said, the pace was very good especially at the end of the stint.

"I feel like it maybe would have been very close with Lewis with the VSC, so maybe we could have fought but it is what it is.

"I think also my side, yesterday I didn't do a good job so definitely now a week of rest and then ready for Austria to come back stronger and be back at the best form."