Lewis Hamilton has reached out to Kimi Antonelli to say “he can always lean on me if he ever needs to” as his Mercedes successor battles the toughest spell of his rookie Formula 1 season.
Antonelli, who is only 18 years old, started solidly at Mercedes and had notable peaks with a sprint race pole position in Miami and a best result of third in the Canadian Grand Prix, where he became F1’s youngest podium finisher.
Antonelli has failed to score a point in the three events since. That Canada podium is his only top 10 finish in the past seven grands prix, with last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix proving a low point in performance and confidence.
Hamilton visited the Mercedes hospitality set-up at Spa, which Antonelli said included a conversation between the two in which Hamilton told him “to keep my head up”. Antonelli has previously spoken about being moved by a note the seven-time world champion left him following his move to Ferrari.
At Spa, Hamilton played down speaking to Antonelli specifically, but asked again in Hungary this week after their conversation had become more widely known, Hamilton said: “I always let him know that I'm there. It's always important to let people know that they're not alone and so I let them know that.
“I try not to encroach, like get in the way or anything like that, but just let them [Mercedes] know that he can always lean on me if he ever needs.
“He's already got an amazing group of people around him, and he's 18. I wasn't ready at 18, he clearly is because he's done a great job I think this year, particularly the first half of the year, the way he's jumped in.
“I've been behind him several times and he's not [budged]! So he's clearly got the ability and it's just a bad experience.
“It's very difficult when you want to succeed and with all the pressure and everything it's sometimes difficult to handle.
“But I think he's been doing really, really well. And he's a really great lad.”
Antonelli’s slump has coincided with Mercedes running a revised rear suspension that it has taken off the car for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
He hopes that will “bring the feeling back” as while the suspension was on the car in Canada, where both Mercedes drivers were extremely strong, one theory is that was because the track layout worked perfectly with the characteristics of the suspension and hid some of the problems that appear in faster corners.
Antonelli admitted to having no confidence last week at Spa, where he was visibly upset and frustrated - more so than before, and spoke candidly about his situation.
“Sometimes the best way is to just let it all out, instead of keeping it for yourself because I think in some ways it’s just going to hurt even more,” he explained.
“I was very frustrated with my performances because I feel like the potential is just so much higher than what I’ve been showing.
“Definitely I was really frustrated, it was a good moment to let it all out. Definitely made me feel much better afterwards.”
