The first day on track in Bahrain confirmed what was expected: McLaren at the front with a notably significant margin, followed by a mix of teams battling for the rest of the podium spots. Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull are trailing, but for each, the role of second-best would represent a significant boost.
Ferrari brought a package of technical updates, for Mercedes, Bahrain is a test, while Red Bull continues to struggle with their own issues. Into this mix steps Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who, despite losing the entire FP1 due to a coolant leak on his W16, remains very confident about the rest of the weekend and the possibility of building a solid performance.
Looking back at the first three races of the season, the Italian has often struggled a bit at the start of the weekend, particularly with understanding how to extract performance from the tires. Both in Melbourne, Shanghai, and Suzuka, the warm-up phase has been quite complicated, affecting his early flying laps. Moreover, not knowing two out of the three tracks, Kimi Antonelli often opted for “safe” setups, making less aggressive choices in some areas.
However, Bahrain represents a different scenario. Here, it’s crucial to find the right balance to have a tire ready in the first sector but also sufficiently “cool” to avoid overheating in the rest of the lap, where the rear tires are more stressed, between traction zones and high-speed corners. Kimi expressed confidence, especially since he had positive sensations from the very first moments.
“FP1 was quite short. Unfortunately, I had a problem with the car’s intercooler, so I had to stop and couldn’t drive for the rest of the session. Obviously, it was a shame, because you don’t want to lose laps, but I think FP2 was quite positive,” Antonelli said at the end of the day.
“I felt pretty good on the single lap, although I made a big mistake in the first sector. But overall, the feeling with the car was good. The long run, however, was a bit tricky,” added the Mercedes driver, referring to a lock-up in turn 1, where he went a bit wide and lost time.
There’s a paradox in Bahrain. Compared to other events, it’s easier to get the tires up to temperature, an area where Antonelli has had more difficulty in previous GPs, but one also doesn’t want to overdo it, as the risk is not arriving with the ideal tire window into turn 1, leading to mistakes. It’s a fine balance that the Italian is trying to find, but these temperatures could somehow help the Mercedes driver compared to the first three races.
“The situation was different from the tests, so I had to adapt. But overall, I think that, despite the problem in FP1, it was still a positive day.” During testing, the asphalt temperatures were quite low compared to what was recorded today—sometimes just above 20°C—while in the evening session, temperatures reached almost 35°C. In other words, very different conditions compared to testing, when those values were hard to reach even in the hottest hours.
“Knowing the track definitely helped. It probably wouldn’t have been so easy at Suzuka, but in FP2, I immediately felt good with the car, and even though the track is very different, I was able to push on the single lap,” Kimi added. The high temperatures could be an advantage for warm-up in qualifying but also a variable in the race, as Antonelli has yet to experience a high-degradation race in F1.
In his growth process, Antonelli progresses through incremental steps. On a track he already knows—having driven here in both testing and in lower categories—he’s aiming for a solid top 5 in tomorrow’s qualifying, which would be his best result so far and, most importantly, a great starting point for the race. The Italian could be one of the surprises of the weekend if he manages to find the balance between single-lap pace and race pace.
“Well, McLaren still seems to be the favorite, but I think the top 5 is possible in tomorrow’s qualifying. We can definitely challenge Red Bull and Ferrari, but McLaren seems a bit too far ahead. We’ll wait and see tomorrow.”
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