Kimi Antonelli brought out a red flag early on in FP1 at the Dutch Grand Prix as his weekend got off to the worst possible start. The Italian teenager locked up on the entry to Turn Nine, running deep into the gravel trap and stranding his W16 machine. With his wheels spinning, Antonelli was forced to engage the marshals to recover his car.

He first asked race engineer Peter Bonnington whether he could rejoin the practice session, but Lewis Hamilton's former right-hand man informed the teenager that his outing was over. Discussing the incident, Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok said: "He's a driver who is struggling at the moment. In that situation, you want clean weekends and to build up to qualifying. Now he's missed 45 minutes of this session and will need to spend FP2 to build up again."

Antonelli was not the only driver to experience an off-track excursion during the early stages of a windy FP1 outing. Right before the red flag, Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda suffered a high-speed spin through the run-off area, but was fortunately able to keep his car running. Carlos Sainz also enjoyed a spot of off-roading at the same location.

For the Mercedes starlet, however, this will hit harder. Antonelli scored points in just two of the eight races before the summer break as he struggled to get to grips with the W16's upgraded suspension. The Silver Arrows have since reverted to the specification that earned him a podium in Montreal in an attempt to increase confidence.

The Bologna-born racer's struggles even prompted Red Bull's Helmut Marko to weigh in. The Austrian suggested that throwing Antonelli in at the deep end was a move that put too much pressure on the Italian, who he believes would have fared better in a B-team set-up, akin to Red Bull's.

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Responding to those comments in Zandvoort, Antonelli told select media, including Express Sport: "Of course, starting straight away in a top team is not always easy, because obviously, racing for Mercedes is a massive privilege, but at the same time, you need to deliver, you need to deliver the job.

"So sometimes you can feel under a lot of pressure, but I'm really happy to have started in Mercedes. Obviously, I've had some rough times, but the team has always been very supportive. I'm aware I haven't done the best of jobs, especially at some points during the season, but this year is mainly to learn.

"Of course, the goal is always to go on track and win, but at the same time, it's important to get ready for next year. But definitely, if I would race in a junior team, there would be quite a bit less pressure, but as I said before, I'm really happy to have started in Mercedes, because I can learn massively."