The Mercedes driver, Kimi Antonelli, has received praise for his maturity following an intense victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, with Sky Sports analyst and former Formula 1 strategist, Bernie Collins, emphasizing the importance of his race engineer, Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington.
Antonelli, who started from pole at Spa-Francorchamps, showed a solid performance to secure his sixth victory of the season. However, his path to the top of the podium was not entirely straightforward.
A misaligned Virtual Safety Car jeopardized the affected afternoon of the Italian, allowing Charles Leclerc from Ferrari to take advantage of a favorable pit stop to briefly seize the lead. Despite losing the optimal pit window two laps too early, Antonelli remained calm and ultimately converted the pole into another triumph.
After the race, Collins explained to Sky Sports F1: ‘He has absorbed the calming influence of Bono, his race engineer. Bono was telling him at various moments, ‘This is where you can gain time, this is where you can improve.’
‘A very solid performance by Kimi. He stayed with the team, he didn’t get frustrated, it’s another race where he only lost the VSC, stopping two laps before it came out. He knows this is a matter of luck. You can’t predict it from the team side.’
‘He kept his cool. In previous races, Kimi may have felt frustrated to end up behind Charles Leclerc. He managed to hold it together, continued with the strategy, picked up the information from Bono, and brought the car to the leading position that he probably deserved throughout the race.’
Antonelli, who has extended his lead in the drivers’ championship, described the victory as tough while speaking with 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve immediately after the race. ‘It’s fantastic to be back on the top step after some difficult races,’ said the 19-year-old. ‘It was a race we had to fight for. We lost the lead with a VSC, but then we were able to recover.’
‘It was a tough victory because Charles was quick, and we had to defend against him.’
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
