Kimi Antonelli analyzes the Miami weekend, highlighting improvements in qualifying and issues with race pace.
Kimi Antonelli‘s Miami Grand Prix weekend ended with a sixth-place finish. After an extraordinary pole position in the sprint qualifying and an excellent third place in Saturday’s session, the Italian driver showed some difficulties with race pace and tire management, eventually being outperformed by his teammate George Russell, who finished third.
Starting third, the Italian driver took advantage of the tussle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris ahead of him to move up to second place and challenge Verstappen for the lead. From that point on, however, with a race pace inferior to his rivals and an ill-timed safety car, Antonelli lost four positions, finishing behind the two McLarens, Russell, Verstappen, and Albon.
Interviewed by Mara Sangiorgio (Sky Sport F1) after the checkered flag, the Mercedes driver explained the difficulties he encountered during the second stint on hard tires, in contrast to the stronger pace he had at the start on medium compounds. “Today I felt better on the mediums than on the hards, with which I struggled with the balance and couldn’t do what I wanted. At the end of the stint on mediums, we were much closer to Max [Verstappen]“.
Antonelli then reflected on the weekend as a whole, in which he excelled in qualifying with a pole position on Friday and a third place on Saturday, becoming the youngest driver in Formula 1 history to achieve these results. “This weekend, qualifying was a strong point: for the first time this year, I managed to put the lap together much better. It’s a shame about the race, though, because I was definitely hoping for more. On a single lap in qualifying, we’re right there, but compared to the McLarens, we were lacking race pace today.” .
Photo: Mercedes-AMG F1
