Until Miami, in his first five Formula 1 races, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had shown great things in race conditions, but also some expected difficulties in extracting performance over a single lap, which impacted his starting positions for Sunday Grands Prix.
In Florida, that trend didn’t just change—it completely reversed. He took pole position in the Sprint Qualifying and set the third fastest time in qualifying for the main race: a brilliant performance for the young driver from Bologna. However, he couldn’t translate that into stronger results in either the sprint or the main race.
A reversal of trends is something common in a rookie’s first season, but Andrea was keen to highlight what went wrong in a weekend that still saw him among the standout performers.
“I need to check the race pace. In Miami, it wasn’t good, especially on the hard tyres. I struggled to get them working in the second stint and was sliding around a lot. That’s why I couldn’t set good lap times. We need to analyse what went wrong so we can do better at Imola.”
“I think this race was quite a unique case, because it was the first time this season I’ve had trouble getting the tyres to work in the race. But I still believe there are several positives to take away from this weekend.”
In some respects, even though he didn’t shine in the race like he had before, the Miami weekend may still be considered Antonelli’s most complete so far. But Andrea knows he can do better, and the upcoming races could provide the platform he needs to shed his current status and become a regular contender for the front rows and top-five finishes.
“I think, overall, this was my most complete weekend in some ways. In others, it wasn’t. In terms of single-lap pace, it was good, and I can’t wait to go to Imola. It’s a track I know well, and I hope to carry this positive momentum into that weekend too.”
“Imola will definitely be an important weekend for me because it’s my home race and it will be special. So I’ll try to do my best, as always.”
“At Imola and Barcelona, the next two tracks, I’ve done TPC (Testing Previous Car), and I’ve also raced there in junior categories. I know those tracks well, so I think that will help me during those weekends. It still won’t be easy, but it’ll be important to be in the positions that count.”
The hard compound tyres, moreover, were a problem not only for Kimi but also for George Russell. Both W16s struggled with the hardest compound brought by Pirelli to Miami, although the Italian had greater issues due to his lack of experience.
“Andrea has incredible speed. And today, I think, was a race where he learned something, with a tyre that was simply hard to manage,” said Toto Wolff after the Miami Grand Prix. “The hards didn’t work well for Russell either. And Andrea lacked the proper knowledge of how to push with that compound. But that’s part of the learning curve.”
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