Teenager Kimi Antonelli paying price for ‘wrong steps’ by Mercedes

LONDON – Mercedes have made mistakes in developing their Formula One car and teenage Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli’s struggles are a consequence of that, according to technical director James Allison.

Antonelli, 18, finished third in Canada in June for his first Formula One podium but has since failed to score any more points.

He has had two retirements since Montreal as well as 17th place in a sprint race in Belgium on July 26 and then 16th in the main grand prix on July 27.

The Italian, who took a sprint pole in Miami in May and is the sport’s youngest race leader, has retired four times in the last seven rounds and admitted in Belgium that he was lacking confidence in the car and not driving as he would like.

“I think he’s, like the rest of us, massively fed up with a string of results that are well below what we were collectively achieving earlier in the year,” Allison said in a Belgian race debrief on July 29.

“I hope he takes some solace from the fact that we tell him that we have taken the wrong steps with the car, making our team less competitive, and that he is paying the price for that, as is George (Russell).

“If the car isn’t where it needs to be, then it will be a struggle getting through the qualifying stages in your rookie season in F1.”

Allison also said it was “utterly clear” to everyone that the car needed to be better and Antonelli’s fortunes would improve when it was.

“Hopefully he’s listening to us as we say those reassuring words because we absolutely know that he is putting in the effort on his side of that bargain,” he added.

Mercedes are third overall, 28 points behind second-placed Ferrari, with one win by Russell in Canada. Russell has been on the podium five times and is fourth overall in the drivers’ standings with 157 points to seventh-placed Antonelli’s 63.

Antonelli received some encouraging words after qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps on July 26 from seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, whose seat the youngster took when the Briton moved to Ferrari.

The rookie told reporters: “He was telling me to keep my head up and that it’s normal to have bad weekends, and to just keep believing.”

Hamilton told Sky Sports television he could not imagine what the Italian was going through.

“He’s been doing fantastic. But to be thrown in at the deep end at 18... he hadn’t even had his driving licence when he first started racing,” he said.

Like Antonelli, fellow rookie Liam Lawson has also struggled. He endured a miserable start to the season but eighth place at the Belgian Grand Prix meant points for the third time in the last six races for the rejuvenated New Zealander.

Brutally dumped by Red Bull and relegated to the Racing Bulls team after only two races, he failed to register any point for the first seven rounds of the season.

Lawson was now fully appreciative of the way the team’s strategy worked and is hungry for more points at Hungaroring this weekend.

“I’m very happy for the team and how everything came together,” the 23-year-old said. “We need to keep the momentum rolling forward and make sure we enter the summer break on a high.”

In keeping with what has been a chaotic year for the two Red Bull-owned outfits on the grid, Lawson was working under his third team boss of the season at Spa-Francorchamps.

The sacking on July 9 of Christian Horner, who had handed Lawson the Red Bull seat only to take it away, meant a promotion for Racing Bulls’ principal Laurent Mekies.

Racing director Alan Permane, who has stepped into the breach as principal at the junior team, could not have been happier with the way Lawson performed.

“Liam had a near-perfect race, he managed his tyres exceptionally well, both on the intermediates and on the dry tyre,” he said. REUTERS