Ahead of the F1 Las Vegas GP, Italian Kimi Antonelli reflected on his best weekend by far in this rookie season at São Paulo. Having qualified P2 for the Sprint and Grand Prix, he finished in those positions in the races, too.
After surviving contact with Oscar Piastri at turn 1 on lap 6, the Italian drove a strong race. The penalty for the Australian moved him back into P2.
What was most impressive, however, is his composure in holding off a rampaging Max Verstappen in the closing laps. 25 points collected over the weekend was a fantastic effort.
Kimi Antonelli on his best weekend to date at the F1 São Paulo GP ahead of Las Vegas
Speaking in a print media session ahead of the F1 Las Vegas GP, Kimi Antonelli explained how everything felt natural behind the wheel in Brazil. The 2022 Italian F4 and 2023 FRECA champion shaded George Russell on pace all weekend.
“Obviously, Brazil was a good one.
“I think what really helped me to achieve a good weekend was the fact that I was able to put things together. It was the first time of the season so far where I put the full weekend together.
“I had good qualis, good races, and we were consistently up there. So, obviously, that was really good.
“And also, what really helped me as well is that it kind of felt natural. The weekend, everything came quite naturally.”
Kimi Antonelli on building momentum in his rookie F1 season
Since outqualifying George Russell at the Azerbaijan GP and finishing a good P4 on race day, the 19-year-old Italian has been doing a very good job for the most part. A P5 in Singapore was not too great when you consider his British teammate won. However, the last three rounds have been much better.
He was right behind Russell at COTA in the early stages of the Grand Prix before Carlos Sainz sent him into a spin. In Mexico, he was 0.084s slower than the Brit in qualifying, before finishing ahead in the race on a messy day for Mercedes. In all four key sessions at Interlagos, he was ahead.
Antonelli is looking to continue this run of form at the F1 Las Vegas GP, along with Qatar and Abu Dhabi. He says concentrating on the process to deliver clean weekends is key.
“But I think also this was also coming from previous weekends because since Baku I had a good run of races. Obviously I was able to build on that. And that really helped as well in Brazil, to put things more together when obviously there was the opportunity. So, I think that was the main difference.
“Now, obviously, we got momentum and it’s important to keep this momentum and to keep building on it.
“Obviously, we are at the end of the season but we have still three races left and it’s going to be important to finish on a high as well personally.
“But as well, to get the P2 in the [Constructors’] Championship.
“But definitely, keep working, keep building, keep focusing on the process. And yeah, if I do all these things right, then the result comes by itself.”
Two or three months of progress lost following difficulties with new Mercedes rear suspension
Not for the first time in the ground effect era, Mercedes have struggled to understand their F1 package. This year the rear suspension was a problem. After putting it on at Imola, it was removed for Monaco and Spain. It returned in Canada. While they got a 1-3 in Montreal, that was an outlier.
Following a very difficult run of races at the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and Spa, they reverted to the old suspension ahead of Hungary.
Things did not get much easier for Antonelli initially, however. Session-ending mistakes in practice at Zandvoort and Monza led to a dressing down from his team boss Toto Wolff. From Austria to Monza he scored just three points. He had no confidence in the car and could not drive it naturally.
Since then things have been much better, though. From Azerbaijan through to Brazil, the Italian has bagged 56 points.
Asked in his F1 Las Vegas GP media session whether he felt he could have produced a performance like Brazil before the issues with the rear suspension hurt his confidence, Antonelli is convinced of it.
“Definitely.
“I think, obviously, I’ve lost a good two or three months of progress. Obviously I struggled with the rear end.I struggled more than George. I struggled more to adapt, mainly to do my driving style.
“And it’s just been a difficult period, because I just kept losing confidence. Driving super tense and just really struggled to make any progress.
“And, obviously, if I was able to adapt better, or if I would have gone back earlier to the suspension, it probably would have been a bit different. Probably I would have been able to build momentum already at the end of the European season, or halfway through it. And probably would have been able to get this result much earlier.
“But, of course, it’s easy to say now. But definitely, that period, I really struggled to make any progress as a driver.
“And then, once we went back on the old suspension, again, I kind of had to regain the confidence. But, it was down to me.
“But, still, now we’ve got three races left, and it’s important to finish on a high.”
Heading into the F1 Las Vegas GP, Kimi Antonelli faces a 26-point deficit to catch Lewis Hamilton for P6 in the Drivers’ Championship.
