For Kimi Antonelli the Belgian GP turned into another weekend of frustration as the rookie failed to log any points.
Qualifying P20 and P18 for the two events and finishing them in P16 and P17 is not what either he or the Mercedes team expect.
Remarkably his only score in the last seven weekends was his solid third in Montreal on a day when team mate George Russell won.
To be fair that run includes a couple of mechanical retirements and a hit from Isack Hadjar at Silverstone (when he was well outside the top 10), but it’s also clear that Antonelli has been struggling to come to terms with the car.
Russell has also had a difficult run since Canada. Mercedes technical director James Allison acknowledges that the team has lost its way of late with the W16, and that hasn’t made life any easier for Antonelli.
“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,” says Allison.
“I hope he takes some solace from the fact that we tell him, and it’s demonstrably a fact, 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.
“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. And it’s utterly clear to all of us that the thing we need to do is make the car better, and then Kimi’s fortunes will reverse with that.
“And 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.”
As a sprint weekend Spa was always going to be tough for Antonelli, notwithstanding the fact that he secured pole for the Miami sprint after just an hour of practice at a track he hadn’t been to before.
In Belgium a huge spin in SQ1 left him with damage and no chance to progress through, hence his P20 grid slot. With neither Alpine on the grid he gained two spots automatically and then in the race passed Nico Hulkenberg to secure 17th place.
Typically, he was very honest about his performance.
“Since the European season, I’ve been struggling to find confidence with the car, and I felt like I’ve done a backward step,” he said when I asked him about his form. “It’s a difficult moment for me, because I feel like I have no confidence on pushing. And yesterday I tried to push a bit too much, and then I spun.
“And then it kind of hurts the confidence even more. But it’s a difficult period. I think we know the limitation we have since quite a lot, but with the way I’m driving, I’m just increasing the problem. And that gave me even less confidence with the car.”
The team made some tweaks for Saturday afternoon’s main qualifying, which improved things. However he still managed only 17th, ahead of the struggling Aston Martin drivers.
“Definitely I think the car was in a better place for sure, compared to yesterday,” he said. “It’s just on my side, I still struggle to get up to speed quickly, just because the confidence has been missing. So I think there’s a lot of work to do on my side, and I try to find the light out of the tunnel as soon as possible.”
He also gave an interesting insight into what he needs from the car.
“Definitely a bit more stability, because with the way I drive, I’m a bit more aggressive with the inputs,” he said. “Also, compared to George, I’m a bit more aggressive overall. I tend to try and carry a lot of speed into the corner.
“And with the limitation I have, I’m just increasing the problem. So on my side, I’m trying to change a little bit the way I’m driving to also have the balance. Because, of course, it’s impossible to have the perfect balance. And I’m just trying to work on that side. But it’s not easy.”
He added: “The team has been trying to help me as much as possible, but on my side probably I’m trying to change the way I’m driving too much, and it feels like I’m not driving naturally. It’s very first forced the way I’m driving, and it’s just difficult.”
A lack of confidence in the car was not what he needed heading into a wet Sunday, and with little to lose from that grid position the team opted to drop him out of parc ferme and give him more downforce.
“We will change the car so we’ll start from the pitlane, and hopefully that will give us an advantage. And hopefully the confidence will be back.”
He wasn’t the only one to make that choice, so at the start he found himself third in the pitlane queue behind Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, and ahead of Fernando Alonso.
For all of them and others on the grid who had already gone high on downforce for qualifying the lack of wet race running was to be frustrating.
“The car felt better with a bigger wing,” said Antonelli when I asked him about his race. “I felt much better in places where I was struggling a lot, and it was a shame, because obviously with the delayed start, it turns out it was a dry race pretty quickly, and we couldn’t really use the bigger wing…”
Before the change to slicks Antonelli passed Lance Stroll, and he gained three more spots in the stop sequence, before finding a way past Franco Colapinto. Stuck subsequently in the queue behind Pierre Gasly, he pulled a good move on Fernando Alonso.
Later like others with little to lose he estopped for new tyres, and after that had a little tussle with Esteban Ocon, nearly getting by the Haas driver only to lose out again.
During his chase he set the race’s fastest lap, which was some reward. However P16 wasn’t ideal, especially with Russell 52 seconds up the road in fifth place.
“Despite being much quicker in the corner than in the straights, it was really hard to keep up,” he said. “And it was a shame, because the only opportunity I had to pass Ocon, I went a little bit wide, and I took a wet patch, and then just had no grip, and he made the switchback.
“And then after that, the tyre was starting to suffer, and I just couldn’t get the run. But still, it’s learning difficult conditions. Also I tried to call quite early the switch [to slicks], but because of Silverstone as well, we probably were a bit too cautious on that, and we wanted to wait a bit more.
“And I think that’s where we lost some positions as well. But on the other hand, I think driving-wise, it was better this race, and I just need to keep working for qualifying.”
A clear track after his pit stop at least gave him a chance to show his pace’ albeit briefly.
“Those few laps where I was on free air, definitely had a lot more fun than being stuck.
“It’s quite frustrating, because you can’t really unleash the real pace you have. I mean, when I was in free air, I did that lap, and then once I was stuck, I was two seconds slower all of a sudden.
“It was tricky. But I think I shouldn’t be starting that far back. I think I need to work on my qualifying and work to get the confidence back with the car, in order to start more at the front, because when you start at the front it’s a completely different race.
“Still as I said, good learning, because having to have the right feel for the transition, then still fighting, trying to get by, especially in a DRS train. So definitely, good learning.
“And now we just need to, as I said before, do a better qualifying to start more at the front. Because in those races where I start more the front it is a completely different story.”
Life isn’t easy for Antonelli at the moment, and while the will he/won’t he jump Verstappen saga appears to be over, the prospect of the World Champion joining – and potentially pushing him and not Russell out – can’t have helped in recent weeks.
At Spa he did at least receive a welcome boost from his predecessor Lewis Hamilton.
“He came to say hi to the team, and definitely, we had a couple of words. He was telling me to keep my head up, and that is normal to have bad weekends and just to keep believing. It was really nice for me.”
Adam Cooper F1 