Mercedes has found “another proof” of Kimi Antonelli’s talent – but needs more

Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s rookie Formula 1 season has so far reassured Mercedes in terms of raw speed and potential, but team boss Toto Wolff and his driver do expect a noticeable step forward as far as race pace is concerned.

Antonelli had a breakthrough weekend in Miami as he outqualified highly rated team-mate George Russell twice, even claiming pole position for the sprint. Previously, his average deficit in terms of one-lap pace had been 0.370s.

However, the 18-year-old was beaten by his elder for the sixth time in as many grand prix races. Antonelli made the most of the Max Verstappen/Lando Norris battle at the start to grab second, but was then overtaken by both McLarens yet maintained a pace similar to Russell’s behind – however the Briton was on hard tyres and the Italian on mediums.

The virtual safety car gave Russell the opportunity of a cheap stop to get ahead of the sister Mercedes, with Antonelli among the drivers losing out, dropping to sixth; then the youngster proved to be much slower as tyre compounds were reversed, losing 14 seconds over the last 27 laps.

“I think the high point definitely [is] seeing the speed on a single lap – great,” Wolff commented, assessing his protege’s performance. “That’s another proof of his talent and a good indication of how the future can be.

“And then in the race, challenging, because it’s so difficult here to find the right reference. You can say, was the medium stint quick enough? With George holding on in the back on the hard tyres – not good. And then when [Antonelli] went onto the hard… He just lacks experience managing it the right way.

“I think for Kimi at that stage it was about bringing the car home in that position.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

Antonelli himself is acutely aware that he has room for improvement following this perfectible Miami display.

“I need to check the race pace,” he admitted. “Today was just not good, especially on the hard. I really struggled to make the tyre work in the stint, I was just sliding a lot around and I couldn’t really find a lap time.

“So I definitely need to analyse what went wrong in order to be better for Imola.

“It was quite unique, this race, because it was the first time that I really struggled to make the tyre work. But still, there’s a lot of positives to take away for next weekend.”

‘A lot of positives’, that’s also what Wolff sees, with Antonelli taking five top-six finishes in the first six grands prix of his nascent F1 career; given his inexperience, tyre management was always going to be a struggle at some point.

“Finding the right references – and [race engineer] Bono really tried to guide him – when you’re in that car, it’s not easy,” the Austrian pointed out. “And I think it’s just part of the learning curve, there’s nothing that is disappointing or not. Overall, I go away with the feeling that he’s done a good job.”

Additional reporting by Mark Mann-Bryans and Emily Selleck