Mercedes has revealed an insight into how Andrea Kimi Antonelli became an unlikely contributor to George Russell’s win in the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.
Despite Russell colliding with the barriers in FP2, Kimi Antonelli spent the Singapore GP in the Briton’s shadow, unable to match his pace in qualifying or the race.
While Russell landed a dominant win, Antonelli never troubled the front-runners, battling the two Ferrari drivers, finishing a disappointing 33 seconds down in fifth.
However, Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin has explained how Antonelli played a crucial role in Russell’s victory earlier on in the weekend.
Speaking in a team video, Shovlin divulged Antonelli changed programme after Russell’s practice crash, sacrificing his own performance for the good of the team.
“A lot of work to do on a Friday. When you get those red flags, that’s track time that you don’t get back. It also interrupts your long run,” Shovlin began.
“And the thing with a long run is you can’t do it in a three-lap clump and a four-lap clump. You need to get them all together so the car, the tyres, everything gets hot.
“But we’re adapting the run plans. George had his incident which took him out of FP2, but luckily Kimi, and it was actually Kimi’s choice to not continue with the low fuel work.
“He was on a good lap. He didn’t finish the good lap, but he said, ‘That’s fine. I know where the car is. I’m happy.’ He got stuck into that long run towards the end of FP2.”
Turning a disaster into a race advantage
Shovlin confirmed Antonelli’s impromptu long fuel run gave Mercedes a distinct advantage as the Silver Arrows was the only team with adequate long run data.
“And he was actually the only car that did a proper long run at fuel,” he continued.
“That allows us to then set a more aggressive cooling level because we had two that we were evaluating.
“We were happy with the more aggressive one that has more aerodynamic performance.
“It also allowed us to tune the ride heights down to a level where you’re confident that you can pass the FIA checks, but you’re not needlessly giving up downforce running the car too high.
“And then just always working on the balance to try and make sure you’ve got the front end to get around the corners, but not so much that you’re hammering the rear tyres.
“But it was really useful having Kimi on such good form through Friday, because that certainly contributed, the learning from that contributed to the win.”
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