Andrea Kimi Antonelli was forced to retire from his first F1 Grand Prix in Italy, at Imola, due to an issue with his Mercedes. It wasn’t a particularly positive weekend for the young driver from Bologna: only thirteenth in qualifying, he got off to a good start by overtaking Lewis Hamilton, but had few other highlights. The Brackley car failed to impress through the corners of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, with Toto Wolff absent from the garage.
There was the joy of his first home race, but also the disappointment of a result far below expectations: it was a weekend of two sides for Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Mercedes talent, who had shown flashes of brilliance during qualifying in Miami, failed to shine in front of his home fans. Eliminated in Q2 on Saturday, he couldn’t extract much from a car that didn’t support him during the race.
At Imola, the Silver Arrows fell out of the podium fight. McLaren and Red Bull now seem further ahead, with Max Verstappen looking like his dominant 2023 self and ready to close the gap in the championship. To top off a disappointing race, the local favourite was forced to retire – and at the end of the race he explained the many mistakes and problems he faced during the weekend.
Kimi Antonelli: “I need to work on myself and improve”
“At the start of the race, I found myself stuck in a DRS train,” explained the very young Italian. “We were lacking top speed, I was always weak along the straights. It was a good thing to be able to keep [Lewis Hamilton] behind me. But as soon as I switched to the medium tyres after the pit stop, after just a few laps I started to have throttle issues. I was losing power on the straights, the sensor seemed to be going crazy.”
“I honestly don’t know if my pace would’ve been any different without that problem. I need to work on my driving and improve. I especially need to improve my race pace in high temperatures. When it’s cooler, everything is easier and managing the tyres becomes simpler.”
“I’ve learned a lot this weekend. On my part, I made several mistakes. I didn’t give myself enough time on various occasions, and that hurt me. I wasted energy and lost performance from the car. In that sense, it was a good lesson – especially with Monza coming up.”
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