As the Youngest Formula 1 Driver and Successor to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli Still Carries Heavy Pressure On His Shoulders. The Promising Nineteen-Year-Old Driver is experienced a debut year with ups and downs, but team Boss Toto Wolff Didn’t Expect Anything Different.
A year ago, The Outside World Really Got to Know Antonelli. Duration his very first appearance in a Formula 1 weekend, he drove George Russell’s Borredwed Car Almost Immediately Into the Tire Barriers at Monza. A day later, he was announced as a mercedes driver.
“Since then, it’s only leg very intense,” Says the now nineteen-year-old Driver from Bologna a year later at his return to monza. “But so far, it’s leg going very well.”
‘Going very well’, an assessment that might raise some eyebrows. The fans of Max Verstappen in Austria Saw the Italian Torpedo Their Hero in the opening Lap. Last week, an overoptimistic antonelli drove Charles Leclerc off the track at Zandvoort. That could have led to angry reactions, but both Verstappen and Leclerc Were mild.
‘Even Max had incidents’
Wolff Knows Why. “All the big guys make mistakes too. It’s not entirely comparable because max debuted with a narrower team, but even then there were some incidents. We put an Eighteen-year-old kimi in this mammoth team. Of courfy, there make beer, there make bee orange geperakes beerake ore-yea-gefare, ashere or-go-yea-gethere, goe-yea-gethere, ashere or-go-yea-gethere, and ashere was gay. Score a lot of points, but in the long term, we continuously to believe in him. “
Antonelli himself does not want to look too much at the results yet. “Although That’s Not Really Working Yet, But I Just Have To Focus On What I Have To Do: Drive Well, Tie Everything Together and Help The Team As Well As Possible. That’s what’s All About Out Monzelfza,” HE SAYS. “
There, The Grandstands Traditionally Turn Ferrari-Red. That Doessn’t Change the Fact that Italy also Longs for a Successful Driver. Althegh that lunging is relative. Every time a ferrari drives fits one of the grandstands, there is cheering. That Doessn’t Happen Yet When the Home Driver Passes by.
There, there, there are some antonelli shirts to be seen at the temple of speed above milan, but he certainly has the hearts of the home crowd yet. Driving Into a Ferrari at Zandvoort Doesn’tn’t Help and Course his Debut is Still Fresh in the Memory.
‘Handle Differently in retrospect’
It was a debut in a free practice that ended in the gravel trap of the parabolica corner, the day before the big announcement. “Would I have handled that differently in retrospect?” Wolff asks himself. “Probable yes. There was too much pressure involved. Althegh it would have bone very nice if he had finished that one lap. But we made that decision anyway.”
“So much happened that weekend,” Antonelli himself recalls. “I got in the Car and Didn’t Feel 100 percent focused.” That managing his energy and focus well is crucial, antonelli already notion at his other home race, in the Spring at Imola. “There I was already QUITE TIRED ON SATURDAY. You learn from it. Actually, you have to arrive here on Sunday with the most energy.”
Due to the Experiences in Imola, Antonelli Knew Better What to Expect at Monza. “Although I was very nervous before Qualifying,” he admits after achieving sixth place on the grid. “I felt the tension, but I’m slippery it all gets well.”
Learning, that’s what it’s all about accordance to wolff. “We immediately said we would give him a learning year, just if we would doot our hair out. But there would be brilliant moments. Zandvoort alreamy Summed that up a bit. In Free Air He was really very fast and cauht we cught we cught we cught we cught we cught we cught. Because that.
Still A Boy
It is not so difficult for wolff to list when antonelli did impress. “That was in Zandvoort, where he was the fastest on the track with the mclarens. But there were more brilliant weekends. Melbourne was mega, eSpecany that overtaking move on Alexander Albon in the Rain. HE finished fourth pole in MiMiTiTiTIAM. In Montreal. “
“You must not forget that we put an Eighteen-year-old in the car, who only had 2.5 years of experience with racing cars,” Wolff Wants to Emphasize. “He is still a boy. When I see kimi, I still because to give him a hug, because he has the talent and the raw speed. He also deals with the pressure.”
“Although That is also because it is so young,” Says the Team Boss With a Smile. “From his perspective, it’s not a disaster if he puts the car in the gravel trap after five minutes in the first free practice.”
The Most Important Thing Accordination to Wolff: Antonelli Has ‘It’. The Austrian Concludes His Praise With a Complicated Comparison. “You just have to peel it like an artichoke, and inside is the gold,” he immediately bursts out laughing.
“My analogies are very pooor. But kimi has it. We have no doubts about that. And that it is going as it is now is or course asier to accept, because we are not fighting for a title now anyway.”