Kimi Antonelli was delighted to attain a degree with a hard-fought tenth place end throughout a “robust” and “endless” Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes rookie’s weekend had been made tough following a mistake in Saturday’s Qualifying on the Hungaroring, with a deleted lap time on account of monitor limits dropping him from P11 to P15 on the grid. At a monitor the place overtaking is tough, {the teenager} delivered a robust drive to stand up the order and guarantee each Silver Arrows vehicles completed within the high 10.
Pitting after 22 laps for a set of the onerous tyre, Antonelli then made the C3 rubber final the gap because the workforce swapped him to a one-stop technique, with solely Esteban Ocon making a set of tyres last more in Hungary.
“It was robust, it was robust,” he stated afterwards. “To begin with, it was not the plan to do one-stop. However then contemplating the place the place we had been, we determined to simply retaining going given the tempo was fairly first rate.
“Particularly after I was in free air, we had been in a position to enhance the time and be constant. However yeah, it was tough, it was tough. Comfortable to have introduced house the primary level of the European season.”
Antonelli has endured a torrid latest run, with dangerous luck combining with some mechanical woes and some errors limiting his points-scoring alternatives since F1 returned to Europe. 4 DNFs in six races had been tough to take for the Mercedes rookie and, bar his podium in Canada, his solely different two finishes for the reason that European chunk of the season started had been a P18 and a P16.
After scoring in 5 of the primary six races, with a fourth place and 4 sixth-place finishes, it has been fairly the downturn for {the teenager} in his maiden season. However Antonelli has saved his head up, and since Mercedes reverted to an older rear suspension, the Italian appears happier along with his automobile.
“That last stint was a really lengthy one, it felt endless,” he added. “I did near 50 laps on that onerous tyre and, by the top, I used to be simply hanging on out of the ultimate nook every lap and defending into Flip 1. The vehicles behind had superior grip however I used to be in a position to hold them behind
“I’m actually comfortable that my confidence within the automobile has come again this weekend. I go away Budapest feeling rather more snug after shifting again to the earlier rear suspension. Yesterday’s Qualifying was only a disgrace because the tempo was clearly there.
“We are able to take this sense into the second half of the season and look ahead to it with optimism now.”
Mercedes workforce boss Toto Wolff was fast to reward his rookie driver too, after Antonelli drove a mature race to maintain some quicker vehicles behind – and continued to be taught and develop as a driver.
“Immediately hanging him on the market for tyre survival was one other a part of the event that he must undergo,” Wolff stated.
“He scored a degree, he defended towards Hadjar behind, and I am happy with that. Hopefully we’ll get sturdy within the second half of the yr.”
Antonelli’s level, plus George Russell’s podium, hold Mercedes within the chase for second within the Groups’ Championship, the place they at present path Ferrari by 24 factors.
