Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli was frustrated for being unable to extract more out of his car after he struggled during the qualifying for the British GP and could only manage seventh before the three-place grid penalty was applied.
The struggles in qualifying
Antonelli says he did okay, although the lap was not amazing, considering he has problems with stability. He said these were the things that killed his confidence.
“I think it was ok, the lap was not amazing. But I’ve been struggling the whole qualifying [in] high speed, just struggling with stability, and that killed a bit of confidence throughout the session.
“I just think it was tough on that side, and especially sector 2, the start of sector 3 was always a bit of a struggle because of that.“
The three-place grid penalty imposed on the Italian following his collision with Max Verstappen in Austria adds further to his headaches. Nonetheless, Antonelli is ready for anything and hopes for a wet start to gain some places at the start of the British GP.
“Obviously, I’m not super happy because of the penalty tomorrow, but we’ll try to build from there. I wouldn’t mind a wet start, just to try and gain some place[s], but we’ll try to be ready for anything.“
The degradation and the set-up
Antonelli explained that the degradation of the soft tyres is higher compared to last year’s. He explained this year’s compound is softer, combined with the lower temperatures.
“The degradation has been quite high, especially in FP2, because obviously we have a softer compound compared to last year.
“The degradation is going to be higher. But obviously the temperatures are much lower than FP2, so we’ll try to manage the tyre the best way possible and try to move forward.“
Teammate George Russell qualified fourth for the British GP, which Antonelli attributed to the former’s more aggressive aero set-up.
“It was pretty similar [setup]. I think on aero, he was running a bit more aggressively than me. But I think overall it was a little bit different, I have to be honest. I couldn’t make the step in set-up just because I was lacking confidence in high speed.“
Talking with rivals and hoping for the best
Antonelli was seen talking to Verstappen after qualifying, amidst the Dutchman’s links to Mercedes next year. The Italian said they were just discussing how windy and gusty it is, a classic British GP weather, and nothing more.
“We were just talking [about] how windy and gusty it was out there. It was pretty difficult, especially Q3.
“It was quite unpredictable. It’s just hard to predict what the balance is going to be in one corner just because the wind was just so unpredictable today.”
Fernando Alonso encountered a slow-moving Antonelli in Q2, but the Mercedes driver says the Spaniard has not confronted him about it and assumed everything is all good.
There was a sarcastic radio message from the two-time F1 World Champion about it.
“I think I didn’t really impede him, to be honest. But I think nothing happened, so I think we are all good about it.”
Last year in Silverstone, Antonelli took his maiden F2 win under wet conditions. He says he prefers the same condition. But if it did not, Antonelli knew the team had a strategy to build on to tackle the British GP. The 18-year-old says seventh is a realistic objective.
“Definitely, I wouldn’t mind [a wet race], but let’s see. It’s quite unpredictable here in the weather. Let’s see if it’s going to rain. But if it’s not going to rain, we’ll try to build from there and try to do our best.
“As far as I’m concerned, the pace is so tight at the front. But hopefully we can have a good race and manage the tyres the best, and we can move forward. I think P7 is going to be realistic tomorrow.”
