Mercedes, Antonelli comments on his Friday: ‘McLaren is in great shape, confidence grows with every lap.’

Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished only eleventh in the second free practice session – here’s what he had to say.

In the second free practice session of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Mercedes appeared to be off the pace compared to the afternoon session. Russell was far from the top spot, and Antonelli could do no better than eleventh. The young driver from Bologna, coming off a chaotic and unlucky race in Bahrain, is aiming for redemption—and the ingredients are all there, given the car’s potential and its impressive top speed on the long straights.

Here’s what the young Mercedes driver had to say after the first two free practice sessions: “Today was quite a tricky day. It wasn’t easy to get many clean laps in, but I’m happy with what we managed to achieve. We worked on various aspects, and lap after lap I felt more confident in the car. This is a track where you need a lot of confidence, especially at high speeds, and you have to stay very close to the walls. Overall, I’d say it was a positive day, although in the final run on soft tires I got a bit too close to the wall coming out of the last corner.”

Antonelli then added: “I’m really looking forward to the rest of the weekend. It all seems very close, with lots of rivals just behind a McLaren that’s in great form. It’s hard to make accurate comparisons without knowing the others’ fuel loads and engine modes, so we just need to stay focused on ourselves. We’ll carefully go through the data we gathered today to take another step forward. The goal is to come back stronger tomorrow and fight for the top positions.”

Photo: X Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team