F1 World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli warns: These Mercedes rivals will be strong

Formula 1 World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli headed into the summer break with a 50-point lead over Lewis Hamilton. The teenager from the Mercedes team couldn’t wait to get back on track, as he explained in the paddock at Zandvoort: “I’m very happy to be back here. During the final week of the summer break, I got a bit nervous because I wanted to get back to racing.”

The 19-year-old from Bologna knows which rivals he needs to keep an eye on: “Of course, we expect McLaren to be quick, as they’ve delayed their upgrade longer than anyone else. We knew they’d be back at the front, especially given the start to the season they’ve had. Their performance has actually already been good on some circuits. And I know they’ve got something up their sleeve here too. They’ll certainly be our toughest rivals.”

Several rivals in his sights

But it’s not just the historic team from Woking that’s a thorn in the side of the ambitious curly-haired driver. He continues: “I think Ferrari will be in the mix too, as they’ve brought a new underbody for this weekend. I’m keen to see how it performs. And, of course, you can’t write off Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen. They’re sure to be up there at the front too.”

“As for us, we haven’t brought any upgrades to the track since Canada, which was quite a while ago. We’ll do that at a later stage, of course, and hopefully it’ll help us improve our performance. Here, it’s important that we get the most out of our car. We still have a great car, and it’s only to be expected that we’ll have races like Hungary, where we didn’t have the strongest car – especially when others are bringing their upgrades to the track. But as I said, we’ll be bringing our own upgrades too. And I hope that will then help us regain the upper hand,” adds the six-time Grand Prix winner.

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