The Italian driver Kimi Antonelli had an uneven performance during the Dutch Grand Prix, where he finished in second place, but 11 seconds behind the winner, Lando Norris. After the race, Antonelli acknowledged having gone through a “difficult second half” at Zandvoort.
Mercedes has begun a thorough investigation to analyze the performance issues of their driver. Antonelli started well, moving from third on the grid to second in the first lap, but suffered a decline in his performance with each tire change he made during the race.
“It was strange because I felt comfortable with the medium tire. On the first hard tire, I felt reasonably good, but with the second, something didn’t seem right,” Antonelli explained after the race.
Mercedes’ track engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, commented that the team is trying to understand why each tire behaved differently, with more oversteer on each change. Their priority is to resolve these issues before the next race in Italy.
Antonelli admitted that he lost confidence in the car towards the end of the race, especially while defending his position against the Ferrari drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Despite the difficulties, the young driver was able to maintain second place thanks to the cooperation of his teammate, George Russell.
Russell, who was on a different strategy, allowed Antonelli to pass, thus facilitating his achievement of second place and extending his lead in the championship. Antonelli thanked Russell for his support: “He made my life easier. I think at the end of the day, second place was the maximum we could achieve, as the speed of the McLarens, especially in the second half, was too strong.”
Looking ahead to the next race in Italy, the current champion will face a penalty for engine change due to reliability issues he has suffered during the season.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
