Kimi Antonelli is hoping to overcome an off-colour Mexico City Grand Prix qualifying session with a good night's rest, but admits Formula 1 title nerves have led to him driving with unwanted tension.

The Italian was just 0.001s slower than Lando Norris' FP3 headliner earlier in the day, but in qualifying had been half a step behind Mercedes team-mate George Russell and unable to find the right confidence throughout the session.

Antonelli ran with 'build' laps during qualifying, adding a preparation lap before going for a timed run in order to get temperature into his tyres, but Russell's decision to forego this on his final Q3 run carried the Briton to the cusp of pole. Lewis Hamilton then shaded his ex-team-mate by just 0.009s at the end of the session to clinch his first Ferrari pole - and his 105th of his F1 career.

Furthermore, Antonelli has had to battle illness this weekend; he missed Thursday's media duties with a fever, but has slowly been recovering through the weekend. He says that he is still not feeling at his best and is lacking energy, but also feels that constant questions about the F1 title have led to him feeling slightly tense this weekend.

"I feel very tired - I still haven't recovered completely and it hasn't been an easy weekend, to be fair," Antonelli explained.

"I've definitely been a bit more tense than usual, especially when you keep hearing, wherever you go, any time of the day, the same thing. And people telling me that it's already done, and knowing myself, I've been trying to block as much as possible this noise.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Manuel Eletto / Getty Images

"But it hasn't been easy, and definitely I've been a bit more tense today. But I felt decent in Q2, especially on the used tyre, but then on the Q3, on the new tyre, I struggled to put a lap together, just to find the grip.

"But I feel we have a good chance tomorrow, still P4, and we saved a set of new tyres, so hopefully we can use that and move forward."

Antonelli explained that his illness earlier in the week was "very bad - I had a high fever and stomach problems" - but is now simply lacking sleep. He says it caused him to make mistakes across his laps, which perhaps caused him to drive within himself to get a solid qualifying lap on the board.

On his approach for Sunday's race, he reckoned that Mercedes might not be able to match Ferrari for race pace over the course of the 71 laps, but is simply hoping for clean run through the Turn 1 pinch-point before approaching the remainder of the grand prix.

"It's a long run into Turn 1, so it's going to be important to get off the line well, and hopefully we can gain a couple of places," he added.

"Of course, we'll have to stay out of trouble as well, because Turn 1 is always very tricky, but I think if we get a good start, we have a good chance to move forward. I think the race pace is still not as strong as Ferrari, but I think we can still do well. 

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images

"I think today, tiredness was a big factor, but as well, I think I didn't really put the lap together. I did a lot of mistakes here and there, so obviously it's disappointing, but I'll try to sleep well tonight. 

"I'm aware that I haven't been driving well. I was already going into qualifying and I didn't feel great, and I felt a bit low on energy. It's not an excuse, but for sure, it doesn't mean my finest.

"I'm going to bombard myself with melatonin, so hopefully I will sleep a good 10 hours. I'm just going to try to relax as much as possible. My family has just arrived, so it's going to be good to have them here. 

"I'm just going to try to disconnect as much as possible, go to sleep, and then I'm ready for tomorrow."