"I was driving a bit like my grandmother," says world championship leader Kimi Antonelli following "worst weekend" of the year.

For many, finishing fifth, and thereby only losing 15 of your 81-point advantage, might be seen as a result, but not in the eyes of the Italian youngster.

"This weekend was my worst of the year by far in terms of performance. I wasn't there," said Antonelli after finishing fifth on an afternoon he started 16th, on a circuit, unlike Monza, where passing is difficult, with the walls keen to welcome the slightest of mistakes.

"I wasn't really present, especially with what happened so early on, and just didn't take the same risks especially after qualifying," he added. "Today was more 'damage-safe mode' instead of full attack."

Damage-safe mode no doubt applied not only to the inherent risks of the Baku track, but the fact that he incurred floor damage in a clash with Esteban Ocon at the restart.

"Yeah, it was bad positioning," he said of the incident. "Today I was driving a bit like my grandmother today," he laughed.

"Just damage control," he added. "You know, I just didn't take a risk. Before making a move, I was making sure that I could go for it. But at the same time, after the restart, I had a big floor damage. My whole left side was gone with the contact. After that, the car was very sketchy to drive.

"I still tried to get to P4, but all in all, it's one of those days where you have to be happy with P5."

Following his crash in qualifying, the Italian claimed he would approach the race with a "nothing to lose" attitude.

However, come the time...

"If I had the pace, it would have been different," he said, having not worked his way into the points until the 17th lap of the race. "If I had the same pace as Monza or in previous races, it would have been different," he insisted. "It would have been just full attack. But today I realised very early that, first of all, it was a lot harder to overtake. With a train of cars all in overtake mode.

"Then I didn't have the same pace as I had previously. The mind-set changed very quickly, and also seeing so many people doing mistakes, you kind of pull back a little bit.

"Today I just took advantage of everyone else's mistake and just moved forward."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Baku here.