Andrea Kimi Antonelli revealed that he was “talking to the tyres” after a long stint saw him ultimately take his third Formula 1 podium in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The Italian was at the centre of an eventful race in Sin City, starting 17th after being dumped out of Q1 in the rain-affected qualifying session.
Antonelli was almost a victim of a first-corner incident between Gabriel Bortoleto and Lance Stroll, but managed to continue without any issues.
By irony, Antonelli jumped the start, with the fraction perhaps making the difference between a race-altering incident and carrying on.
But the premature getaway, no matter how minor, saw him handed a five-second time penalty, a cruel twist of fate after having made his way through the field to be lying in fourth place.
It was still a superb damage limitation job from the Mercedes man, finishing fifth after taking fourth place on the road, losing his position to Oscar Piastri, but staying ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
If Antonelli saw the bright side despite the penalty, he only had to wait a few hours for his race result to improve further.
With Piastri and Lando Norris being disqualified for excessive plank wear, Antonelli was promoted to third place, with team-mate George Russell finishing in second behind race-winner Max Verstappen.
Antonelli’s early stages of the race saw him box for Hard tyres early, and a magnificent stint saw him soar through the field whilst others went to Mediums.
It meant that Antonelli had to manage his rubber sufficiently, which, as he revealed after the race, left him on the verge of praying inside the cockpit of his W16.
“Yeah, I mean I was talking to the tyres, the last 20 laps, every lap on the straight,” he told media including Motorsport Week. I was just asking them to please hold on until the end.
“I was a bit concerned with the graining halfway through the race but eventually once I was in free air, especially the last 10 laps, also thanks to some advice that I got from the team on driving, the graining started to clean up a little bit and we were able to just hold on and actually the time kept getting faster and faster so I’m really happy with that.
“It was just a shame we started so far back but that’s part of the learning and now we move on and focus on the next two.”
Antonelli reveals startline anomaly, and Mercedes Plan B
Antonelli revealed that his jumping the start was so minuscule that he didn’t even notice, but would endeavour to discover why it happened with the team.
“Yeah it was very tricky I think,” he said. “My suggestion is that I rolled a little bit but I didn’t really feel it in the car so just need to review the onboard and understand what was the issue.”
With most drivers on a one-stop, Antonelli looked set for a two-stop given how early he boxed, but he revealed that with over half the race distance gone, he was told that he would have to make the Hards last until the chequered flag.
“Well, I got with 20 laps to the end the team radio that we were going to Plan B, so I knew I would have had to finish to go until the end,” he divulged.
“So obviously I was trying to manage the tyres and I knew I felt quite comfortable in the last 10 laps, obviously with Oscar close behind, but the graining started to clean up and the pace just kept getting stronger and stronger, so I was feeling comfortable and managed to stick it.”
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