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'Not the happiest of endings' for Antonelli on home debut
Kimi Antonelli admits he was struggling to manage his energy levels throughout his first home race weekend at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Italian rookie is from Bologna, under 25 miles away from the Imola circuit that hosted the first European round of the season. While Antonelli made his FP1 debut at Monza last year, this was his first home race weekend as a Mercedes race driver, and in it he dropped out in Q2 before retiring with a loss of throttle control.
“It definitely was not the happiest of endings,” Antonelli said. “It was difficult. I mean, first stint was mainly stuck in the DRS train, and obviously the tire took a hit, so I was just trying to hang on. And then we were lucky with the VSC. And then back on the medium [tire].
“To be honest, I had high hopes. But then after a couple of laps, I started to have the throttle issue, and in the end, it completely went off. Of course, it's a shame. But these things happen. And I think overall, the pace was not too bad at the end of the day.
“Of course, with the issue, I don't know how much better it would have been. But I was losing – I could feel it quite a lot, especially power-wise. There was nothing more I could do.
“Still, it was a good learning experience this weekend, and I'm going to see what I can improve as well on my side in order to be back stronger in Monaco.”
One of the main areas Antonelli feels he has learned the most relates to his time management amid many demands at his home race, as he believes he was not fully recharged come lights out on Sunday.
“Definitely it was a really intense weekend mentally, emotionally, and I think on my side I didn’t manage things the best. I think especially when it came to trying to save energy, I didn't do a really good job on that.
“I could feel it affected the driving a little bit as well because I could feel like I wasn't mentally... I didn't have as much energy. So definitely on that side it was a really good learning experience, especially ahead of the next home race.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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