In China, Antonelli drove with a damaged car because of Hamilton and Leclerc

He himself struggled to hide his astonishment when he learned the news from a Toto wolff Equally surprised: Andrea Kimi Antonelli was voted driver of the day at the Chinese Grand Prix, after crossing the line in 8th place. The 18-year-old Italian had started from that same position after a positive qualifying session, where he managed to raise his Mercedes in Q3 for the first time this year.

His race was then more discreet, quite far from his teammate George Russell, 3rd, and in a No Man's Land between the Ferrari et Esteban Ocon in front and the rest of the field behind. The four points he should have scored finally turned into eight thanks to the relegation of Charles Leclerc, for a car that is too light, and Lewis Hamilton, due to a skate that was too damaged.

A fitting return, as Antonelli's race was also partially ruined by the two Scuderia drivers, who collided at the start. By hitting his teammate's right-rear wheel, Charles Leclerc lost the vertical flap of his front wing. While this didn't cost him much in terms of performance, the carbon fiber part was then sucked under Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes, who was unable to avoid it. "The problem happened at the start. Leclerc touched the rear of Lewis's car, which broke part of his front wing. explains Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes' director of track engineering. Kimi was unable to avoid the debris and drove over it, damaging his floor deflectors.

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Antonelli 'could have' fought with the Ferraris and Verstappen without the damage

"We estimated a loss of aerodynamics of around 0,2 to 0,3 seconds per lap. continues the engineer. But the effect was not uniform: the loss of load was mainly at the rear, which led to oversteer and overheating of the rear tires. This was frustrating because, without it, Kimi could have fought with the Ferraris and Verstappen. It is a valuable experience for him, because riding in front is essential to his learning in F1He was a bit unlucky, but he is very positive and already looking ahead to the rest of the season."

Fourth and then sixth in his first two Formula 1 Grands Prix, Andrea Kimi Antonelli made a successful debut in Formula 1, even if at 18 years old, the step might have seemed a little high. “He fits in very well. praises Andrew Shovlin. It's difficult to succeed a driver as successful as Lewis Hamilton, especially so early in his career. But he has a good team, especially with his race engineer, Bono (Peter Bonington, editor's note), who is helping him progress. He's still amazed by driving in F1, and starting with a race in the rain in Australia was a real challenge. He's finding his feet and we think he still has a lot to offer."

Thanks to his regularity, the native of Bologna is in fifth position in the ranking just 13 lengths behind his teammate George Russell.

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