The Italian Grand Prix is underway at Monza, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli is feeling confident. The young Mercedes driver believes he has learned how to manage his weekends better and will be ready to give 100% on Sunday. For Antonelli, Monza represents his second home race of the season, and he is determined not to repeat the mistakes he made earlier this year at Imola.
Despite last week’s contact with Charles Leclerc at the Dutch Grand Prix, the pace of Antonelli’s Mercedes was encouraging. The 18-year-old is now ready to carry the momentum from Zandvoort into Monza.
At his first home race in Imola, the Italian struggled to manage his time and energy, ending the weekend on a disappointing note. Now, however, Antonelli has arrived at Monza with a different mindset, eager to show that he has learned his lesson.
Antonelli’s words
During last year’s Italian Grand Prix, it was officially announced that Andrea Kimi Antonelli would step up to Formula 1 as a Mercedes driver in 2025. This makes the race even more special for him. But Monza also carries mixed memories.
The 18-year-old explained: “A lot of things have happened. I have good memories but also some bad ones here. Yeah, I mean, it’s a really special place.”
He continued: “I think it’s going to be a special weekend because it’s not just my second home race, but, as you said, it’s also where the big announcement was made. That’s why it will be very special. But you know, since then it has been very intense.”
Looking ahead to the Mercedes performance, Antonelli shared his hopes for the weekend: “You know, the cars are all getting closer now. But last year our car was actually a bit better here. Especially in qualifying, we were up there. The car has performed pretty well this year at tracks where it worked well last season. So hopefully we can do the same [as in 2024]. But of course we can’t know for sure.”
Monza vs Melbourne and Imola
Antonelli was asked whether he saw similarities between Monza and Melbourne. Given that both Mercedes cars showed strong pace in Montreal, having another circuit with comparable traits might help them achieve a strong result in Italy.
Antonelli responded: “Well, I mean, first of all, here the downforce level is much lower. The first two chicanes are really tough on the brakes, and then there’s a low-speed corner similar to Melbourne.”
“But there are also some fast corners like Lesmo, Ascari, and Parabolica. So in a way it’s similar to Montreal in terms of characteristics, but the second half of the lap is a little bit different. So hopefully we’ll be able to have a good race.”
He was also asked whether he had learned to better manage his weekends compared to Imola, where he admitted that if he could redo that race, he would approach it very differently. Antonelli admitted: “For sure. I mean, I’m much more prepared now and I know a lot better what to expect. I know much better how to be at 100% every time I get in the car.”
He added: “This time I’ll be more prepared. Imola was my first home race, so there were a lot of things going on, especially off track. And I think on my side, I didn’t manage my energy in the best way. So I feel like now I’ll know much better how to react and how to handle it.”
After Zandvoort
Reflecting on last weekend in the Netherlands, the Italian said he needed a clean race. The biggest challenge, however, is shaking off negative thoughts after a tough weekend. Antonelli explained how he approaches it: “I just focus on myself, only on what I have to do. It’s really easy to get lost and focus too much on the final result. But I think it’s much better—though I didn’t do it very well—to just concentrate on the things I need to do. Drive well, put everything together, and then help the team as much as possible to find the best balance. I think that’s the main thing. I just try to focus on myself and get every detail right.”
After his incident with Charles Leclerc at Zandvoort, the young Mercedes driver will be under pressure to deliver at Monza. But Antonelli remains calm and confident that he can show the strong pace he had in the Netherlands once again this weekend.
He said: “Yeah, for sure. I think in the race I had good momentum. The pace was strong and especially on the hard tire I was doing quite well.”
“I was able to close the gap, lap after lap, to the group ahead of me. And then obviously the contact happened, which was not ideal,” he explained.
“At that moment I wanted to give it a try, also because it was probably my only chance. It’s just a shame, but it was my fault.”
“Of course it’s always nice to go straight into another race, because despite what happened, I can still carry the momentum into this weekend. Especially after seeing that the overall pace had improved. So I hope we’ll keep working, keep improving, and then hopefully achieve a great result this weekend,” Antonelli concluded.
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