Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli believes the upgraded Mercedes W17 works better, despite uncertainty regarding the new parts’ actual performance.
Mercedes made the decision – an unusual one for a top team – to split its cars in terms of upgrades in Singapore. Antonelli has been running the updated Silver Arrow, with revised floor and sidepods, while George Russell, condemned to a back-of-the-grid start after exceeding his power unit quota, reverted to the old one.
Russell was noticeably quicker on Friday, outpacing Antonelli throughout sprint qualifying with a six-tenth advantage on average, but the Briton crashed out of the sprint race and his car hasn’t felt the same since then.
The pair ended up a lowly 12th and 13th in Q1 on Saturday, 1.2s off Lewis Hamilton’s pace, but Antonelli progressed more than anyone throughout qualifying – he improved by two seconds and qualified fourth, just 0.189s down on polesetter Max Verstappen.
That was encouraging for the Italian, who had described the updated W17 as “very difficult, very unpredictable and very difficult to put a lap together” after sprint qualifying on Friday evening.
Asked by Motorsport.com if the last two days had provided some answers, Antonelli said: “Yes, yes, definitely.
“We start seeing what the package can give to us. However, it’s still difficult to find the right window. We did a big, big step in set-up today and we seem to put the car in a better place, even by giving away a bit of performance.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
“But the car just seemed to work in a better way. However, the window was still very small, very sensitive, especially throughout qualifying – you know, when you try to push more and more with the track improvement, the car was reacting quite differently to any extra pushing, braking a little bit later, combining a bit more.
“So the window is still very small, but the team did a great job on turning around and now we start to get some answers. If in Malaysia we were a bit lost, now we have the head a bit more clear.”
Due to the narrow operating window, finding a functional set-up proved tricky. “To be fair, we went completely opposite with the set-up and the car was in a happier place,” Antonelli explained.
“Yesterday the car was just sliding, it was sliding a bit everywhere, so just trying to stabilise a bit the car, giving away a little bit of aero performance, but just having a more stable platform.
“But still, even though it was better to drive, the window was still very small. But now we start to see what the package brings and the areas where we need to work on, and we are starting to get some answers, which is a good thing.”
Russell acknowledged the progress but pointed out Mercedes was far from its usual performance.
“I mean, it was positive to see Kimi sort of more competitive today than yesterday,” the Englishman said. “However, we weren’t exactly lighting the timing screen on fire.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
“As a team we’re still not satisfied with where we are with the new package. I think we recognise we need to make some set-up adjustments to compensate those changes, so maybe we can find a way to make it work and be fast. But right now we need more time.”
Antonelli concurs and hopes the next grand prix, at Circuit of The Americas, will provide a better opportunity to figure out that cryptic upgrade.
“In Austin, obviously, we go back to a normal weekend, and I feel like we can explore a lot more,” the youngster said. “The best would be to have two cars on the same spec, because at least you can try very different things on both – because the team did a tremendous job on trying to bring this package and it has improved in certain areas, but definitely it has shifted the window in a different way.
“So, just need to keep working, keep exploring. But then I’m sure once we find the right window, then we’re going to be able to use the potential of the package.”
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