​Kimi Antonelli will begin Saturday’s Dutch Grand Prix Sprint from fifth with a damaged Mercedes and no extra practice session available to sort it out. That is a much less comfortable position than the timing sheets initially suggested.After going through the gravel at Zandvoort’s last corner in Sprint Qualifying, Antonelli said the car’s floor had sustained “big time” damage. Mercedes repaired part of the floor, but the car still carried a substantial aerodynamic handicap into the session’s final stage.Antonelli Lost 25 Points of Downforce Thanks to Damage“Oh yeah, [I had damage] big time,” he confirmed via Sky Sports. “I had a couple of holes in the floor, so when I came in, they initially said it was a loss of 25 points [of downforce]. Then they tried to repair as much as possible, but yeah, definitely the damage was still there. I was struggling a lot in the low speed. But yeah, it is what it is, you know? It was a little bit too much entry speed in the last corner in that lap one, and lost the rear and went through the gravel.“And yeah, that was pretty much it. And then obviously, also was not easy to build the confidence back. But you know, still decently close, and we’ll have another go tomorrow,” Antonelli ended.Antonelli finished fifth with a 1:11.794 lap after 15 completed laps across the three qualifying segments. George Russell took pole for the Sprint in the other Mercedes at 1:11.567, leaving Antonelli 0.227 seconds behind his teammate. The top five boasts Lando Norris second, Charles Leclerc third, and Oscar Piastri fourth.That result looks less alarming when placed beside Antonelli’s Friday pace. In the weekend’s sole hour-long practice, Antonelli topped the timesheets with a 1:12.949 lap, finishing 0.121s clear of Norris and 0.125s ahead of Russell. He also spun at the exit of Turn 10 during FP1, asking over team radio, “I don’t know what happened there,” before recovering to set the session’s best time.It’s clear that Mercedes had a car capable of leading the opening session, but Antonelli’s mistake at Arie Luyendijkbocht left him managing a compromised machine.Mercedes Has to Repair the Car Between SessionsAntonelli said the team would continue working on the Mercedes, although he expected to contest the Sprint with some of the damage remaining.“Yeah, I mean, we’ll try to do the best race we can. Of course, it’s very close at the front, so it’s not going to be easy to overtake. But we’ll try to do the best we can even with the damage. And then from qualifying, we’re going to tidy the car up and go again,” he said.The schedule leaves Mercedes with little room for experimentation. Overtaking is difficult at Zandvoort is difficult, with the extended approach to Turn 1 providing the circuit’s primary passing chance. Mercedes found the pace. Antonelli found the gravel. Now the team has to find a way to keep both of these things from defining his weekend.