Max Verstappen took the spotlight in Japan, delivering a sublime weekend in which not only did he claim his first win of the season, but he also confirmed that he is the only thorn in the side of a superior McLaren for now.
Suzuka has always been a track that showcases talent, and this was also true for the Dutchman, but as we look at the standings, there is another driver who made the Japanese weekend a strong show of maturity and growth—Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Undoubtedly, many rookies impressed at Suzuka, such as Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman, both in the top 10 on a track they didn’t know. But what likely set Antonelli’s case apart from his peers was his evolution throughout the weekend, and how much he learned to turn things around after initially feeling unsure.
On one of the most technical tracks on the calendar, filled with fast corners where precision and smooth steering are crucial, a lack of confidence can have a major impact, which explains some of the mistakes he made in the early free practices during his “learning phase” of the track. But what caused that lack of confidence?
In reality, his feeling in FP1 wasn’t bad, but it was in FP2, when drivers started pushing to the limit and experimenting with qualifying laps, that Antonelli encountered more difficulties, which were twofold: on one hand, the setup, and on the other, getting the best out of the tires.
“I think the difficulties were also related to getting the most out of the tires, especially in the first sector. In free practice, I was coming in without tire temperature, I kept sliding, and that took away my confidence,” explained the Mercedes driver at the end of the weekend.
Thanks to the interruptions in FP2, it was hard for Antonelli to understand how to prepare the tires for a single lap, especially considering he only tried one set of soft tires, and by the end of the session, he went back to testing hard tires with a full tank of fuel. It wasn’t just a single attempt that gave the true picture, but the eight-tenths gap from his teammate in the first sector was a clear sign of his difficulties.
Looking at Antonelli’s journey in F1 so far, these struggles aren’t completely surprising, as in both Australia and China, Antonelli had difficulty warming up the tires ahead of the first sector. In fact, in Japan, he even tried a second warm-up lap.
However, Suzuka is a much more complex, technical track, with a striking sequence of medium and high-speed corners right at the start of the lap. If you don’t have confidence and make a small mistake, the risk is carrying it with you for a large portion of the sector. Moreover, in addition to the tire warming issue, Kimi had started the weekend with a conservative setup.
“I had to step up my driving compared to the practice sessions, in practice I was a bit lost. I didn’t really have the confidence to push more and make progress, and I felt a bit stuck after FP1. I went into qualifying with very little confidence, and I had to take a big step forward in my driving,” said Kimi.
“This is a very fast track, the first sector is not easy, you need to find the right timing in every corner. Also, with the setup, we started conservatively because I didn’t have confidence,” Kimi added. With setup changes after practice, the situation improved, though he decided not to push too hard into unfamiliar territory.
“I was regaining my confidence. But surely on the last lap of qualifying, when I had decent confidence, I probably could have asked the team to push the setup a bit more to the limit. This is also something I’ve learned for the next qualifying sessions, but overall I’m happy.”
Those eight-tenths lost on the first day were more than halved in qualifying, as he began to find more confidence in applying the throttle and carrying speed. In fact, all the gap accumulated by his teammate, even though it wasn’t a perfect lap due to a slow outlap, came from the first sector, while in the other two sectors, Antonelli actually reduced the deficit.
An encouraging first sign in his growth process, showing how to use the tires, which clearly takes time, especially on a Mercedes that has shown several times to have a rather narrow operating window and still be sensitive to changing conditions.
But it was in the race where Kimi Antonelli impressed the most. His race in Australia was largely affected by his starting position, except for a few laps under the rain after the Safety Car where he showed flashes of talent, while in China, a floor damage in the first lap cost him three-tenths per lap, not to mention the balance variation between the two sides of the car.
But on a track where tire degradation was reduced and drivers could push harder on the tires, Kimi Antonelli didn’t have to manage the tires, and his decision to extend the first stint on the medium tires was proof of that. Even more impressive, though, was his pace on the hard tires, where at times he was the fastest on track, closing in on George Russell’s mirrors.
Compared to a single lap, where you still have to find the balance to keep the grip consistent throughout the lap while looking for those last tenths, in the race, the hard tires immediately proved to be very competitive, even in the warm-up phase. Once they were up to temperature, and he was able to push to the limit, it was much easier to stay in the right window and push without limitations.
In that very first sector, which had long been his weak point of the weekend, in the second stint, Kimi started matching his teammate’s sector times, finding more confidence in the car, even surprising himself with the pace he maintained. It’s just an early sign of a growth trajectory aiming upward, and next weekend, he’ll return to a track he knows well.
The goal is to keep learning step by step and address all those areas where there is still room for improvement, as is normal for a rookie. But the flashes we’ve seen so far have confirmed a talent that can still achieve a lot.
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