Championship leader Kimi Antonelli/Mercedes only 13th: “Of course, that wasn’t an advantage”

As early as Thursday, Formula 1 World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli had remarked: “Of course, it’s not an advantage if I have to vacate my cockpit in the first practice session.” That’s when Mercedes’ Danish reserve driver Frederik Vesti took the wheel, as every regular driver is required to give young drivers or stand-ins a chance to drive twice a year, and Mercedes apparently felt that the Hungaroring was a good opportunity for this.

Antonelli had therefore been unable to gain any experience during the first 60 minutes of practice, and it wasn’t long before the Mercedes teenager came on the radio, sounding visibly annoyed.

“Oh, my God, I nearly spun out twice when braking – what on earth is going on?” On both occasions, the rear wheels had locked up. The team called the Italian into the pits to adjust the aero balance more towards the rear axle.

Kimi Antonelli was on a fast lap on soft Pirelli tyres after just over half an hour, but didn’t get very far – because Franco Colapinto crashed his Alpine backwards into the track barriers on the final lap: red flag! Kimi was down to P9.

Kimi Antonelli stormed straight back onto the track after a seven-minute enforced break. However, the championship leader subsequently messed up the approach to the chicane after the rear end broke away. Nothing again.

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The Bolognese driver grumbled over the radio: “The rear axle’s still tending to lock up, man.” No reply from Kimi’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington.

In the end, the six-time Grand Prix winner limited himself to endurance runs, so the question remains unanswered as to where he would have ranked against Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Verstappen and Russell; in the second practice session standings, he appears only in P13.