Kimi Antonelli only P7 in Singapore: shocking statement about the Mercedes

An unusual approach from Mercedes on the night of the Singapore Grand Prix: George Russell is driving the car specification used up to the Bahrain Grand Prix, whilst Kimi Antonelli is driving the new one on the Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore.

The thinking at Mercedes: the Evo package wasn’t fully explored in Malaysia, but it offers more potential than the old specification. And to learn as much as possible, Russell is driving the tried-and-tested version. So far, this hasn’t been a disadvantage. The Briton is second fastest in the Sprint qualifying session, whilst Kimi Antonelli could only manage the seventh-fastest time.

The 20-year-old from Bologna commented: “On the one hand, I’m surprised, and on the other, I’m not really. I was already struggling with the car in free practice (Kimi was seventh there too, M.B.). We still have a great deal to learn about this new Evo package.”

“The car is unpredictable at the moment. That makes it really tricky to put together a good lap.”

“It’s a real shame, because I came here full of hope. But so far, it’s all been really difficult.”

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“Based on what I’ve learnt today, I’ve got a really tough weekend ahead of me. Perhaps we’ll find the philosopher’s stone by 10 October, but we shouldn’t count on it. I reckon I’ll have my hands full with the car on Saturday and Sunday as well.”

“The gap to the front is seven tenths of a second, and to be honest – I’m a bit at a loss as to how I’m going to make up those seven tenths. But you must never give up hope. Perhaps my race engineer Bono and his team will manage a breakthrough tonight.”

“I hope we can make the car a bit more user-friendly, and then we’ll see where I end up in the sprint.”