World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli/Mercedes: “That will be decisive in Singapore”

Formula 1 experts and fans are in agreement: 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli is on course for his first World Championship title. At crucial moments, luck is often on his side – the luck of the brave.

Most recently in Malaysia, Kimi finished second behind Max Verstappen, but his toughest title rival, Mercedes team-mate George Russell, retired due to engine failure; and to make matters worse, the Englishman now has to start from the back of the grid in Singapore because he needs a new engine.

Kimi Antonelli, from Bologna, says of his starting position at the Marina Bay Circuit: “First of all, we’re racing here under the sprint format. Sprint weekends are always very demanding, but doing the whole thing on a street circuit makes it even more intense.”

“One very important point: the grip levels on circuits like this change from race to race. You have to be able to adapt to that, both in terms of car set-up and in terms of how the car feels to drive.”

“Another major difference is that Friday’s only free practice session will take place during the day, whilst qualifying for the Sprint will be held at night.”

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“As far as our work here at Mercedes is concerned, we’re continuing to try to understand the finer points of the Evo package we fitted to the car in Malaysia. I hope we’ll learn more from that.”

“At Sepang, it simply turned out that the data from the circuit didn’t live up to what the simulations had previously promised. We believe that the extreme track temperatures – at times exceeding 60 degrees – and the very rough tarmac had a major influence there.”

“Singapore will be a good test. Because in Malaysia we struggled a lot in slow corners, and there are plenty of those here at Marina Bay. We’ll also be splitting the driving duties: I’ll be driving the new specification, whilst George will be driving the one we had on the car before Malaysia. We hope to learn as much as possible from this.”