Andrea Kimi Antonelli has revealed that “a little package” brought by Mercedes to this weekend’s Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix contributed to his sixth pole position of the season.
The Italian stormed to top spot at Spa-Francorchamps, his Q3 lap resulting in a three-tenths-of-a-second gap to second-placed Max Verstappen.
Antonelli’s dominant Mercedes team has, more often than not this season, been the out-and-out class of the field, and the power circuit, combined with the W17’s energy management advantages, helped him end qualifying with a result that ended-up looking as if it was never in doubt.
When asked what made such a difference between his laps in Q1 and Q3, Antonelli told media, including Motorsport Week, that adjustments and improvements in his own driving were the big differences.
“Front wing, just changed a little bit the flap and that’s it,” he said. “And also the lap was much tighter and Q1 was a bit all over the place.”
Minor Mercedes changes ‘helped me gain confidence’ – Antonelli
A big talking point in the lead-up to this year’s race at Spa-Francorchamps has been how the energy deployment and management would be key to fast laps, with judgement on when and when not to use up the precious battery.
When asked in which sectors the W17 was particularly strong, Antonelli made the additional revelation of the Silver Arrows’ extra element.
“Well, we brought a little package that helped us a little bit, even more on the straights,” he said.
“But Sector 2, the car still felt good and especially in Q3, we did minor changes on settings and it helped me to gain confidence to push even more.
“So yeah, it was good that we were stronger in all the sectors.”
Antonelli was asked to predict how he thought his Sunday afternoon would pan out, and if there might be lots of overtaking, to which he laughed: “Hopefully not! Hopefully it’s just off in the distance!”
The 19-year-old added: “We’ll see what the weather is going to be like,” referring to Spa’s changable and unpredictable conditions. “For sure, it’s a long run into Turn 5. And then of course we’ll try to get a good start.
“But also the deg is going to be fairly big. So I’m just going to try to also manage those tyres the best way as possible.”
READ MORE – Kimi Antonelli storms to dominant F1 Belgian GP pole position
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