Andrea Kimi Antonelli has hinted that he avoided using the Medium tyre in qualifying in order to improve his race prospects in Formula 1‘s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Antonelli is enjoying one of his most competitive weekends of the year at Interlagos, lining up on the front row once again following his second place finish in the Sprint Race.
Comfortably the fastest of the two Mercedes, Antonelli’s confidence in the W16 is undeniable, reaffirmed by his final Q3 run placing him second behind Norris.
Unable to pass the McLaren during the Sprint, the Italian has another opportunity to take his first win in F1, at the track where his team-mate clinched his first in 2022.
Walking through his qualifying lap, he shot down speculation he could have taken pole position away from Norris, but he was confident in the car ahead of the race.
“It was a very tricky session,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“To be honest, the wind was not the best today. It was a bit more of a pain in the ass around the lap, to be fair.
“But still, the last lap in Q3 was quite decent. Locked up a little bit the rear in the last corner. But despite a little mistake, I think Lando would have been still fastest.
“Yes, just not the perfect lap, but still good for P2. And we have a good opportunity tomorrow.”
Antonelli bullish on victory hopes in Brazil
Antonelli did not attempt to hide his ambition to secure victory in the race, confirming his focus on a good start at lights out from the inside of the grid.
“The pace this morning was really strong,” he said. “It was also quite cold. And tomorrow should be kind of the same, so maybe it can help us a little bit more.
“But running in dirty air is never easy. But hopefully we can have a strong pace and put pressure on them. And hopefully we can fight for the win.
“Well, we’ve seen many, many races so far in the season that the start and track position can play a massive role for the rest of the race.
“Of course, Lando has been starting very strong recently. So we need something exceptional.
“But on my side, I just try to do a normal start. Not trying to do too much and at least hold position. And then we’ll see from there.”
George Russell in the sister Mercedes elected to switch to the Medium compound on his final run in Q3 amid his struggles to extract grip from the Soft tyre.
Antonelli has admitted he contemplated adopting a similar tactic, but he decided that he would be better served having new tyres at his disposal in the race.
“We definitely thought about putting the Medium in qualifying, because even yesterday the Medium felt basically the same as the Soft,” he confirmed.
“The jump from Medium to Soft was very little.
“Also today in the Sprint the Medium felt better than the Soft. Even in the first few laps the grip just felt better, the tyre felt more robust, especially throughout the whole lap.
“So definitely we had a thought about it because we thought that there was not much of a gap.
“But I thought as well that because I felt good on the Soft, I thought it would be better to keep it for tomorrow.
“Tomorrow obviously we have the new tyres, so that’s good, especially for the start. So I think that was the right choice at the end.”
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