Kimi Antonelli has been praised for a “good rebound” from his recent Formula 1 struggles, as Mercedes has owned up to some responsibility for things going awry.
The young Italian helped silence his doubters with a strong run to fourth place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on a weekend when many of his more experienced rivals made big mistakes.
But that performance came in the wake of criticism he had received from team boss Toto Wolff after what was labelled an “underwhelming” showing at the Italian Grand Prix.
Having gone off in practice at Monza and having made a similar practice-ending error in the Dutch GP, the pressure was ramping up on Antonelli to turn things around.
However, one fresh detail about Antonelli’s situation has since emerged – with Mercedes revealing that problems with its simulator had wrecked preparations for the double-header in Zandvoort and Monza, from which he took away just two points.
Beyond the simulator breaking down and limiting the amount of mileage Antonelli was able to do for those events, The Race has learned that the running he did do was also with a too high grip level – which may also have caught him out when reality bit in Zandvoort.
While this does not explain all of Antonelli’s struggles in those race weekends, it was almost certainly a factor about why he went into them slightly on the backfoot.
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained how the derailed work for the post summer break races was in contrast to what he did for Baku.
“With Zandvoort, he came in for a simulator session, and we had some issues that meant he wasn't really able to do the prep there,” said Shovlin.
“He then makes a mistake in FP1. Well, I think we need to own a bit of that responsibility and that we couldn't do the normal prep.
“He was with us last week [before Baku] and did a very big day, doing two or three race distances or equivalent mileage of that, preparing here.
Antonelli says that one of the keys to doing better in Baku was that he was able to get all the mileage he needed through practice, even if he admitted to being a bit “disappointed” that he just missed out on a podium finish after coming home fourth behind Carlos Sainz.
Now, though, he knows he needs to repeat such form at every race.
“It's been a difficult period with the European season, with all the criticism and difficult moments,” he said. “But we managed to do a good result and now the important thing is to do this consistently.”
The 'good rebound'
Having not held back in his criticism after the Italian GP, Wolff says that Antonelli did exactly what was hoped for in Baku as he came home fourth.
“It was a really good rebound,” said Wolff. “After months he had such a difficult spell with the European races, and coming in here with a solid P4, running in the front group, that's something to continue to build on, consolidate and then score more good weekends until the end of the year.”
Wolff said that Antonelli was well aware that the struggles he endured during the European phase of the season were not good enough – so both parties had been honest with each other about what was expected.
“I think we always speak very openly with each other,” he said. “There's no such thing as holding back.
"For himself, he was not meeting his own expectations with what happened in Monza and where the driving just wasn't how he expected it to be, or he wanted it to be.
“Here [in Baku], maybe there was a bit missing in ultimate performance that maybe made the difference between a podium or not. But such a good consolidation, in my opinion, was important to score that result.”
