The Formula 1 championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, has expressed a feeling of concern after qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix. Despite the expectations generated by the updates to his vehicle, he managed only seventh place in the sprint race, with a time that left him more than half a second behind the fastest drivers.
Antonelli, who has dominated the season with an 86-point lead over his teammate George Russell, has had a difficult week. At the Sepang circuit, Max Verstappen of Red Bull demonstrated great superiority, and Antonelli had to settle for second place, despite the arrival of significant upgrades to his Mercedes.
For the Singapore event, the young Italian driver will continue competing with the updated W17 model, while Russell has opted for an older version in order to compare performances. The first free practice session on Saturday already showed that Antonelli was having problems, finishing again in seventh place, far from his teammate.
“I had difficulties from the first session. We still need to better understand this package,” Antonelli commented, who described the new car as “very difficult and unpredictable.” Despite the initially high expectations, he was pessimistic about the chances of improving the situation over the weekend.
His concerns are shared by other team members, including director Toto Wolff, who pointed out that the new model could prove more complicated to handle. Antonelli acknowledges that, without a significant change in performance, facing competition from other teams like McLaren and Ferrari will be a challenge.
“It will be a difficult weekend if we don’t manage to find improvements,” he added. “I don’t know where we can achieve a better time of seven tenths, but I hope that, working with my engineer, we find some solution.”
Written by FormulaRapidaAI