Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says they “completely anticipated” the rollercoaster nature of Kimi Antonelli’s rookie F1 season and retain “little question” in regards to the teenager’s final potential after this Dutch Grand Prix was undone by crashing into Charles Leclerc.
Antonelli, 19, skilled an incident-packed weekend on the resumption of F1’s season at Zandvoort.
It in the end yielded no factors after his race-day collision with Leclerc earned him a 10-second penalty. That, mixed with a subsequent five-second sanction for rushing within the pit lane, ultimately dropped the Italian from sixth to sixteenth within the closing classification.
It means Antonelli has scored only a single level within the final 5 races however Wolff, whose Mercedes outfit first signed the Italian to their junior programme as a 12-year-old and this 12 months made him the third-youngest F1 driver of all time as substitute for the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton, shouldn’t be nervous.
“After we made it clear final 12 months in Monza that we might give him the chance, it was additionally saying that we might give him a 12 months of studying and there could be moments the place we might tear our hair out and there could be different moments of brilliance,” stated Wolff.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli gave their ideas after they crashed into each other, with the incident ending Leclerc’s race.
“I believe this weekend just about sums that up.”
‘We would like him to go for the strikes’ – Wolff on Antonelli’s ‘ups and downs’
Antonelli’s Zandvoort weekend started inauspiciously when he beached his automobile within the gravel within the opening minutes of Friday’s apply session.
Kimi Antonelli bought his Mercedes caught within the gravel throughout opening apply on the Dutch Grand Prix.
After dropping the remainder of that session, he went on to qualify eleventh after simply lacking out on Q3 on Saturday.
He dropped to twelfth behind Yuki Tsunoda’s Purple Bull in the beginning of Sunday’s race however his weekend out of the blue got here alive across the race’s first Security Automobile, triggered when Ferrari’s Hamilton crashed out.
Transferring into the factors after his cease, Antonelli impressively overtook Alex Albon for seventh on lap 34 and was then allowed previous team-mate George Russell, whose automobile had sustained flooring injury in an incident with Leclerc, for sixth seven laps later.
Antonelli then set after Leclerc himself however, after discovering himself on the Ferrari’s tail after Mercedes pitted him a lap earlier than the Ferrari, he oversteered into his rival’s automobile as he tried an overtake by going low into the banked Flip Three.
His subsequent penalties and two extra Security Automobile intervals meant his mixed 15-second sanction was notably expensive given the pack completed nearer collectively than would have been the case had the race run uninterrupted.
Reflecting on Antonelli’s newest turbulent weekend, Wolff stated: “The error in FP1, clearly one thing that places you on the again foot for the remainder of the weekend, after which within the race, these moments of nice driving.
“As soon as he was in free air, he was behind the McLaren the quickest automobile, caught up, after which once more was concerned in that accident that sadly meant the top for Charles’ race.
Highlights of the Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort.
“However we would like him to go for the strikes, clearly. So up and downs, and that was completely anticipated from this season and each a kind of days goes to be a studying for subsequent 12 months.
“We’re not combating for a constructor championship. After all it is P2 and P3 [in the standings] that’s at stake, however this has much less relevance than subsequent 12 months when it is essential to attain the factors.”
Antonelli apologised to Leclerc for the accident after the race and can now head into his first residence Italian Grand Prix at Monza this coming week aiming to get his season again on monitor.
And Wolff insisted: “You all the time want that the training has much less humps and bumps than it has in the present day as a result of the swings are monumental but it surely’s there. It simply must be unpeeled like an artichoke the place on the finish there’s the gold.
“It is there and we’ve little question.”
F1’s European season concludes with the Italian Grand Prix – watch the entire Monza weekend dwell on Sky Sports activities F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
