Kimi Antonelli said a series of missed opportunities at this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix have already acted as a "wake-up call" in his pursuit of his first world title.
Although the Mercedes driver used Saturday's sprint race at Zandvoort to extend his lead in the drivers' championship to 53 points over Lewis Hamilton, he has twice been outqualified by George Russell this weekend as well as dropping three points to his teammate who won the sprint.
Antonelli put Friday's disappointing qualifying result down to a mistake in SQ1 in which he damaged the underside of his Mercedes and said a mistake in grand prix qualifying on Saturday left him third on the grid rather than on pole position.
He denied either qualifying mistake was linked to the pressure of protecting his championship lead, but admitted they were both a reminder of how quickly points can slip away in the title battle.
"I don't feel any extra pressure," Antonelli said. "But it was a very good wake-up call this weekend, and a reminder that you can never lower your guard.
"Because when you do that, I did a mistake yesterday, and today I did a mistake in Q3. So it's not that I'm driving more tense or anything, but I feel this weekend is a good wake-up call to just put things in the right place at the right time and just deliver the result when it counts."
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Antonelli explained that raindrops on his helmet's visor meant he went too cautiously into Turn 1 on his final lap in Q3, resulting in a mistake.
"Obviously, in the last lap, I did a mistake in sector one," he said. "I took it a bit too easy, seeing the rain on the visor.
"And just, yeah, it was a really poor sector one. And shame because I think we had a shot for pole but still starting P3 tomorrow and all to play for."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes that the "stopwatch never lies" and that his drivers were fairly equal in the end.
"George had the upper hand, I would say, a little bit," he told Sky after qualifying.
"Kimi had a bit of a mistake in sector 1, so that would have probably cost him a tenth or so, but the same with George in the last sector. So, you know, the stopwatch never lies."
