Andrea Kimi Antonelli has expressed hope that the positive progress he made at the Miami Grand Prix will be maintained throughout the upcoming Formula 1 rounds.
Antonelli sustained a breakthrough weekend in the United States as he claimed pole position for the Sprint race, becoming the youngest driver to accomplish the feat.
However, the Italian was hapless as an incident at the opening corner with Oscar Piastri and an unavoidable pitlane clash with Max Verstappen relegated him to sixth.
But despite that setback, Antonelli rebounded to retain the measure over his more established team-mate George Russell to line up third on the grid for the main race.
Having out-qualified Russell for the first time, Antonelli revealed that he is getting more acquainted with how to unlock the maximum from Mercedes’ 2025 challenger.
Asked whether he had unleashed something that made him happier in the Mercedes last weekend, Antonelli told media including Motorsport Week: “Definitely.
“I mean, every weekend is learning and experience and more confidence with the car as well.
“So really, really happy with how every weekend I’m more able to play a lot more with the car and trying to explore the limit as well.
“This weekend I felt really good in the car. So that’s definitely a positive.”
How the break inspired Antonelli’s breakthrough
Antonelli admitted that the chance to review his start to the campaign in detail in the small gap before the Miami weekend played a decisive role in his sudden upturn.
“I think also having a week break after a triple-header was really helpful as well for myself to gather all the information,” he added.
“So definitely a lot of experience, also understanding how to extract more out of the tyre during the whole lap – something I haven’t been doing well during the season.
“There’s still room for improvement, but yeah, I feel better and better in the car every weekend.
“So hopefully after this weekend, we’re going to European tracks, tracks that I know well, and hopefully I can maintain the same pace or even go faster.”
Where can Antonelli improve?
Antonelli recognised that the inability to sustain his impressive one-lap speed in the main race – where he slumped to sixth – showed that he still has areas to improve.
“I need to check the race pace,” he conceded, having crossed the line over 17 seconds behind Russell in third. “Today was just not good, especially on the Hard [tyre].
“I really struggled to make the tyre work during the stint, and I was just sliding a lot around and couldn’t really find lap time.
“So I definitely need to analyse what went wrong in order to be better for Imola.
“I think it was quite unique, this race, because it was the first time that I really struggled to make the tyre work. But still, a lot to take away into next weekend.”
READ MORE – How Kimi Antonelli’s GP weekend approach propelled him to historic Miami Sprint pole
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