Mercedes shot itself in the foot during Saturday’s qualifying in Monaco. The German team could have been the wildcard of the midfield in Sunday’s race, but instead implemented a strategy that was incomprehensible and frustrating for the drivers. Here’s what Kimi Antonelli had to say about it.
On the Monaco track, qualifying is practically more important than the race itself. In this sense, it was to be expected that the race would be an uphill battle for the Silver Arrows, with Russell and Antonelli qualifying P14 and P15 respectively.
Yet, there was the idea that the Brackley-based team might pull a rabbit out of the hat — but that never materialized. After starting on the hard tyres, the two drivers embarked on a grueling race, condemned to sit in the wake of the Williams cars, which were working as a team to reach the points zone.
While other teams were rotating between their first and second pit stops, Mercedes stayed out for an extended stint, making it seem like they had a brilliant strategic trick up their sleeve. Instead, the team appeared confused, with first George Russell and later Kimi Antonelli cutting the harbor chicane in desperation to finally get past a car.
For that move, the British driver received a drive-through penalty — a sanction he said he did not regret. The Italian, on the other hand, gave the position back immediately, but his race was already compromised. As a result, he slowed down the pack to allow his teammate to at least finish in P11.
The 2006-born driver ended the frustrating Monaco GP in P18, last among the finishers due to the DNFs of Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly. “I’m disappointed with today’s result, but in the end, it wasn’t a surprise considering where I qualified yesterday,” said Antonelli. “It wasn’t the most exciting race we’ve had. And the strategy didn’t work in our favor.”
The Mercedes driver did, however, give us the only overtake of the race — passing Gabriel Bortoleto, who ended up in the wall before the tunnel. “I tried to be aggressive at the start to gain as many positions as possible,” he said.
“I attacked Gabriel Bortoleto before the tunnel, I had the pace and I gave it a go, gaining a position. After that, we tried to play the long game, but other midfield teams like RB and Williams were running their own race and we ended up stuck in a DRS train — behind the pace we had and with no overtaking opportunities.”
“Despite the disappointing result, Monaco was another learning weekend for me. I struggled a lot with the C6 tyres, as I did in Imola, and I also had difficulty in qualifying. Now I’m happy to move on to Barcelona, where we’ll use the harder compounds that I know well,” Antonelli concluded.
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