Kimi Antonelli’s first F1 home race at the Imola GP was shaping up to be a quietly impressive outing, until it ended in bitter disappointment. A throttle failure, while he was running solidly in the points in 7th, snatched away what could have been the Mercedes driver’s first finish in the top 10 on home soil.
The weekend began with Antonelli qualifying 13th, narrowly missing out on Q3. Come Sunday, Mercedes opted for an alternate race strategy, putting Antonelli on hard tyres at the start.
He quickly made ground, gaining a position off the line and managing to keep Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari at bay for the entire first stint. His pace looked promising, and as others pitted early, Antonelli climbed into the points.
A VSC, brought out after Esteban Ocon’s retirement, gave Mercedes the chance to pit Antonelli for a relatively cheap switch to medium tyres. Not long after rejoining, Antonelli reported throttle issues over the radio. What started as inconsistent power delivery quickly escalated, and by lap 45, the car lost all drive. He coasted to a halt at Turn 7, marking his first DNF in F1.
Speaking during a print media sessions, Mercedes Chief Communications Officer Bradley Lord said:
“Something in the throttle pedal assembly meant that, from the early 30s laps, the throttle wasn’t delivering full power, and then that was gradually degrading, and then, obviously, he lost the throttle completely.”
He added, “So it was a failure in the throttle that meant that it wouldn’t deliver power. So that was why he had to retire. Again, not a good thing to have happen, to be a reliability problem coming upon us as well.”
Lord reveals how Antonelli and the team dealt with the pressure of his first home Grand Prix
Antonelli was running in eighth place when the issue forced him to stop. His retirement triggered a full Safety Car, which bunched up the field for the closing stages. For the 18-year-old, it was a gutting end to what could have been his most complete race so far.
The emotions were understandably high post-race. Antonelli admitted that the event’s magnitude had taken a toll, especially regarding energy management. Still, he acknowledged the overwhelming support from the Italian crowd and took the setback as a learning experience.
When asked how Kimi and the team handled the pressure at home, Lord said the team focused on balancing support with maintaining performance under the spotlight.
“We knew this would be a big weekend, and there’s been a lot of focus, a lot of attention. I think, within the team, we’ve seen him as focused as ever and concentrated, but obviously experiencing all of this for the first time, all the things you can control, but also all the things you can’t control, is a new phenomenon,” said Lord.
“We’ve got to view it as a learning experience, understand what were the moments that lifted him and gave him energy, what bits potentially felt like overload, and then we’ll adapt for both busy race weekends, but then also particularly the next home race in Italy in September as we go forward.”
Lord indicated that last year’s Monza FP1 helped Antonelli handle things better
The Imola experience follows Antonelli’s dramatic first official F1 weekend appearance in Italy. During FP1 at Monza last season, the teenager impressed initially before suffering a substantial 52G crash at Parabolica. That incident destroyed George Russell‘s car and the new floor Mercedes had brought as an upgrade.
Lord indicated that the earlier Monza experience may have provided valuable preparation for the pressures of Imola:
“I think he’s said himself that that was a very important lesson. Obviously, this is a first DNF, unfortunately, this season for him, and only his seventh race weekend.”
He added, “But certainly, each time you do it, each time you go through a home race, and we know, obviously, we’ve had Lewis for many years at Silverstone within the team as well, and it is a different mental approach, it is a different level of pressure that you put on yourself, and you have expectation of yourself as well.”
Despite the disappointment, there were unquestionable positives for Antonelli to take from the weekend. His race pace was competitive, and until the mechanical gremlins struck, he was on course for championship points.
“We just need to keep working to unload that pressure, unload that expectation, and just let him focus on the job, first and foremost, and put an environment and a structure around him that helps him do that in the best possible way,” Lord concluded.
The team admitted it was their most difficult weekend of the season, with Antonelli’s DNF and Russell managing only P7. As F1 dives deeper into the European stretch, both Antonelli and Mercedes will aim to regroup and return to the sharp end of the grid.
