Andrea Kimi Antonelli has admitted that the pressure of racing in front of his home fans for the first time in Formula 1 “compromised” his performance at Imola.
The Italian’s seventh Grand Prix, the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, was his first time he had driven competitively in F1 before a crowd of his countrymen and women.
The 18-year-old has starred so far this season, scoring points in all bar one of the Grands Prix leading up to Imola, including a fantastic pole position for the Miami Sprint.
But after a disappointing qualifying session, in which he failed to make it through to Q3 – ultimately starting 13th – Antonelli’s race was condemned to be difficult from the start.
After working his way up into the points, the Mercedes man eventually retired due to a throttle issue, leading to his first DNF of the year.
“I absolutely love the support of the Italian fans,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I just think on my side, I didn’t manage my energy that well, and that compromised the performance on track.
“But it was a really good lesson, because I could feel it. I was not as relaxed. Was a bit more tense while driving.
“So ahead of the next home race [in Monza], it was a really good lesson. But now, we will focus on Monaco because it’s going to be important to be on top of the game.”
Antonelli laments Mercedes issue amid further ‘work’ on driving
Antonelli lamented the throttle problem that curtailed his race, which began shortly after the restart of racing after the Virtual Safety Car period.
“After two or three laps [after the VSC], I started to have the issue with the throttle [and] then unfortunately it went off completely,” he said.
“I was losing power, and sometimes the sensor was going crazy, so it’s a shame but these are things that can happen. For sure without the problem, the pace would have been much better.
“But I need to still work on my driving, to see where I can improve, and also to improve the race pace, especially with the hot temperature.
“I think when it’s cold, the pace is really good, it’s much better, and also for me it’s much easier to manage the tyre, I need to still work on it when it’s hot.”
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