Kimi Antonelli on his Madring debut: “Drive as if a granny were at the wheel”

This afternoon from 3 pm, Formula 1 will be racing the Spanish Grand Prix for the first time at the Madring circuit in the north-east of the Spanish capital, Madrid. It’s a brand-new circuit featuring 22 corners and all sorts of intricate features, such as the longest steep corner on the calendar, the longest pit lane and a steep uphill section leading up to Turn 7, as well as a variety of corner types and two completely contrasting halves (fast straights and right-hand corners versus slow corners). The Madring poses a major challenge for the drivers. But also for the cars.

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli topped the timesheets in both the second and third practice sessions ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, but narrowly missed out on pole position in qualifying, having to concede defeat to Lando Norris (McLaren).

Madring: a challenge for everyone

How did Mercedes set up the car for this particular circuit? Antonelli: “It wasn’t easy, partly because it’s a circuit with lots of different types of corners – high-speed corners, low-speed corners and chicanes. So it’s not easy to get the car into the right range.” And one problem caused teams and drivers particular headaches: the tyres.

Antonelli: “As far as the tyres are concerned, in my opinion it wasn’t easy to find the right balance between the first sector and the end of the lap. A tricky circuit, then. But I think the biggest challenge will be in the race, as tyre wear seems to be quite high.” Several drivers had complained about this during practice and qualifying.

Granny Antonelli at the wheel?

So how well – or poorly – will the tyres hold up during the Grand Prix? Kimi Antonelli joked, referring to the early stages of the race and the tyres’ endurance: “It’ll probably feel like a granny’s at the wheel for the first ten laps, but we’ll see. We’ve seen in the long run just how severe tyre wear can be, especially if you push too hard too early.” So, defensive ‘pensioner-style’ driving to avoid that? Antonelli’s team-mate George Russell and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had already discussed a six-stop strategy – that is, six tyre changes during the race – due to tyre wear.

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Antonelli: “Well, we’ll have to see. We’ll try to decide as we go along. Perhaps the wear during the race will be much less, so we’ll just have to decide as we go along.” Circuits generally evolve over the course of a race weekend, especially when there are lots of support series taking part (Formula 2 and Formula 3 are on the programme in Madrid). This is even more true of new circuits or new tarmac. So the Spanish Grand Prix is set to be a real mixed bag!