F1 World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli: “The car felt a bit better”

It was already clear to Kimi Antonelli during the first free practice session that he was in for a tough time on the Singapore street circuit. The championship leader, who – unlike his team-mate George Russell – was driving the latest version of the W17, had to settle for the seventh-fastest lap. And in the sprint qualifying session, he couldn’t manage better than seventh place either.

The Evo package also meant that the 20-year-old had his work cut out for him in the 20-lap mini-race. Although he finished the Sprint in fourth place in the points, his verdict on the updated Mercedes was no more positive than it had been the day before.

At that point, the Italian had complained: “It’s a shame; I came here with high expectations, but they haven’t been met so far. I was already struggling in the first practice session. And the car is very difficult to drive, very unpredictable. It was difficult to put a lap together.”

After the sprint, he sounded much more conciliatory: “We tried a few things and the car felt a bit better. We’ll now make a few changes ahead of the GP qualifying and I hope these will help us. The working window for this package is very narrow, but we’ve identified a few good things and I really believe this update has potential.”

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