Mercedes Seeking Answers After Kimi Antonelli’s Pace Faded in F1 Dutch Grand Prix
Mercedes has launched a “deep dive” into Kimi Antonelli’s performance at the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix after the championship leader reported a “difficult second half” of the race while struggling with the balance of his W17.
Antonelli made a strong start at Zandvoort. After qualifying third, he overtook Mercedes team-mate George Russell off the line to take second place before the end of the opening lap. However, the championship leader encountered increasing problems with the car after each tyre change.
“It was really weird because I felt good with the medium. I felt decent on the first hard, but then on the second one it just felt really odd,” Antonelli explained after finishing runner-up to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Mercedes is now investigating the issues Antonelli faced to understand what went wrong before the next round of the Formula 1 season in Italy.
“Each tyre had a bit more oversteer than the tyre before it and we’re trying to understand why that was,” explained Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin in the team’s Dutch GP debrief video.
“Now, we didn’t change the car, we didn’t add any aero balance, which is the sort of thing that could have explained it. So, we’re having a real deep dive into the data and try and get to the bottom of that because it’s important to solve those sort of things ahead of the next race.
“It’s obviously getting really tight now in terms of performance. We’re still waiting for our major update to land and that will help but in the meantime, it is going to be a bit of a fight.”
The championship leader settled for second in the Netherlands
Antonelli said the problem left him with “little confidence in the car” during the closing stages, when he was defending against Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc while also closing on Russell.
Because Antonelli and Russell were using offset strategies, Russell allowed his younger team-mate through. The move helped Antonelli secure second place and extend his championship lead.
“George, you know, I have to thank him because he made my life a lot easier,” Antonelli explained. “But I still think probably could have stayed out and gone until the end with the same set because it put us a little bit at risk. Also, I feel we put George at risk with having to let me by and everything.
“But I still think, at the end of the day, it was a great team execution with how things were, and I think today P2 was the maximum we could have done because the pace of the McLarens, especially in the second half, was just too strong.”
Mercedes will hope to identify the cause of Antonelli’s handling problems before his home race in Italy. The team has already confirmed that he will take an engine penalty at the event because of reliability issues earlier in the season.
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