The Italian is very pleased with the result of Mercedes’ “risky strategy”!
Despite falling victim to the conditions that prevailed in qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, failing to make it to Q1 and finishing only 17th, Antonelli managed to finish in 5th place with an excellent race, before the double exclusion of McLaren from the final results pushed him to 3rd place, giving him his 3rd podium of the year, unorthodoxly!
In order to achieve this result, an unorthodox strategy was needed, in which Antonelli started on the soft tire, which he changed to only on the second lap, taking advantage of the VSC that had been brought out for debris on the track, keeping the hard tire at amazing levels for the next 48 laps and essentially making a huge undercut, without being affected by the fact that he was punished with a 5-second penalty early on for a false start.
When asked what happened at the start, given that the transmission seemed to be a borderline case, Antonelli commented: “It was very difficult, I think. My assessment is that I rolled the car a little, but I didn’t really feel it in the cockpit, so I have to look at the onboard and understand what the problem was.”
Speaking about his race, he stressed: “I’m really happy with it. I think the strategy was very risky. Halfway through the race I was a bit worried because the graining started to show and I wasn’t sure if I could make it to the end. But then I got a radio message that we were going to Plan B, so the plan was to finish with this set, and I was just trying to manage it as best as I could. Eventually, the graining started to clear up and the times kept coming our way, and we were able to hold off both Oscar and Charles. Of course, with the penalty it was a bit unlucky to lose fourth place, but it’s still a very strong result.” It’s worth noting that these statements were made before the McLarens were disqualified.
“The feeling in the car is getting better and better, and I’ve really been enjoying the driving lately. Obviously, after Brazil we have a good momentum. Of course, yesterday was a big shame, I was very disappointed, but today was a redemption, and now I have to focus on the next two races because I really want to finish the season strong,” concluded the Mercedes driver.
Regarding Antonelli’s recent performances, who seems to have put the difficult mid-season behind him for good, Toto Wolff pointed out: “He’s 19 years old and we always said that the first season can be difficult. We’ve seen that from time to time. He’s been thrown into one of the big teams, he doesn’t know many of the tracks, and there’s all this pressure on him. And that’s exactly the trajectory I expected. Next year will be completely different.”
“The cars will be new for all the drivers [in 2026], not just for him. He’s been on the tracks, he’s travelled, he’s experienced the pressures that come with being a driver. He’ll be a year older and more mature, so so far everything is going according to plan. We always said that we expected the season to have a lot of ups and downs, moments of great brilliance and moments where you want to pull your hair out. “So this is not the end of the development, we are still very early, at a very early stage. And I hope that next year we will see more from Kimi, more consistent performances and, of course, much more in the years to come.”
