Andrea Kimi Antonelli has established that Mercedes’ flawed suspension update caused the mid-season downturn that he endured in his rookie Formula 1 campaign.
The scepticism surrounding Mercedes’ choice to promote Antonelli began to subside when he became the sport’s youngest pole sitter on his sixth weekend in Miami.
And although he backed that up with his maiden podium in Canada in June, a distressing run through the European season has ramped up the pressure on the Italian.
Antonelli’s plight coincided with Mercedes bringing a new rear suspension to his home event in Imola, an addition that also triggered a dip in George Russell’s results.
But while his team-mate utilised his greater experience to contend with the team’s setback, Antonelli proceeded to not score over the next six races outside Montreal.
With Mercedes having reverted to the launch-spec suspension before the summer break, though, Antonelli has now returned to a much happier window with the W16.
“The thing is, in the first six races of the season, I’ve had basically the same car,” Antonelli highlighted to media including Motorsport Week.
“We brought very minor upgrades, so the car was very consistent. Having the same car really helps you to build your confidence and understanding its behaviour.
“I arrived at the sixth race of the season in Miami with great confidence. I was able to build up and qualify to express the potential. It was great.
“Then we moved on to the new suspension and that’s when the struggle came.
“Right after Miami, I went to Imola with really high hopes, because I was coming off from a good weekend. But then with the new suspension, I struggled massively.
“I started to really struggle with my driving and having to really chase a way of driving that was not natural for me.
“I think on my side, I couldn’t really adapt that well, and that’s why I struggled so much.
“When I reflect, it’s very clear. The first six races, I’ve had the same car. Since we went on the new suspension, I’ve just lost confidence more and more.
“Now that we’re back on the car at the start of the year, that hopefully will help me to build that kind of confidence again.”
Antonelli had ‘impossible’ task with botched Mercedes update
Antonelli has recalled how he explored all avenues with his engineering team in an exhaustive bid to get his driving to gel with the revised suspension, but to no avail.
Asked whether it was tough to communicate his needs to the team as a rookie, Antonelli retorted: “Well, it was not really difficult.
“In that moment, it was hard to change the car that much in order to help me. It was more about me trying to change the driving style.
“The team was very aware of my problems, especially because I was struggling to express my driving.
“But it was really hard to make a change in order to help me, because it was impossible, basically.
“Since we went back on the old suspension, all of a sudden the confidence started to come back and I was really happy for that in Hungary.
“Even though the result didn’t show the real potential, I think feeling-wise I was much happier, because I was finally finding the confidence back in the car.
“Hopefully this second part of the season is just going to be a constant growth, and we’ll be able to achieve great results.”
READ MORE – Why Mercedes was aware Kimi Antonelli would have steeper F1 learning curve than Max Verstappen
Discussion about this post