Andrea Kimi Antonelli got the feeling back in F1 Hungarian GP after hard fought point finish, as Toto Wolff says it was transformational weekend.
Much like teammate George Russell, Mercedes’ Antonelli also found some form in F1 Hungarian GP at Hungaroring, where the old suspension did some trick. Their Imola update seemed to have not clicked and they were forced to go back to ascertain if the car works better on the old system.
It did bring performance back. Russell ended up on the podium, while Antonelli made the one stop work by holding off Isack Hadjar and Lewis Hamilton. The Italian rued his qualifying drop in Q2, otherwise, he would have been in the Top 5 ahead of potentially Aston Martin and Sauber.
“Well, I think the hardest is still Canada, but this was very close,” said Antonelli to media. “It was a very long stint, definitely was not the plan to do such a long stint on the tyres, but it was just really hard to get out of the situation, being in a DRS train. And the tyres were getting quite a big hit, especially in dirty air. It was difficult, but happy that I managed to hold on.
“Actually the pace in free air was pretty decent, so now we just need to start further forward, because I think the potential is there, and I think it was a real shame in qualifying not to show that the feeling was back. I just need to understand what happened with the tyres, and why I just had no real grip. I think the race pace has always been strong, I think it’s been my strongest point this year.
“But I think today was a really good lesson on tyre management as well, because I had to manage tyres but still keep the pace up, because obviously I had Hadjar behind and Lewis coming up with much fresher tyres. And I still had to keep the pace high in order to keep them behind. It was tough, but we learned,” summed up Antonelli, who got added experience of changing strategy and holding off faster cars by using that sort of strategy.
After the drop in performance and confidence, Antonelli agreed that he got his feeling back. Team boss Wolff too termed it transformational for the young Italian. “Yes, I think the feeling was back. And this weekend was actually pretty strong, because we were up there every session, and again yesterday I was very frustrated, because I felt I could have had a shot to fight there at the front,” the Italian said.
“But now I’ll just go to the summer break, look back at things, what went well and what went wrong. And I’m going to rest, train and then come back fitter and stronger.” Meanwhile, Wolff added: “The car generally is giving more feedback to him, he said that this weekend was transformational from the first session and yes the qualifying went wrong but that happens to young drivers.
“In the race hanging him out there for tyre survival was another part of the development that he needs to go through. He got a point, defended against Hadjar behind and I am satisfied with that. Hopefully, he is going to get strong in the second half of the year on track.”
Here’s George Russell on Hungarian GP podium