After frustration and costly Friday offs in Zandvoort and Monza and a jarring “underwhelming” review from his boss Kimi Antonelli was in dire need of a troublefree F1 weekend.
With perfect timing he got exactly that in of all places Baku, a tricky venue that caught out many big names over the course of the three days of the Azerbaijan GP.
The Italian qualified a solid fourth, just ahead of unwell Mercedes team mate George Russell, and then logged the same result in the race. Ultimately he lost out to the late-stopping Russell, which was frustrating, but he gained a spot back by passing Liam Lawson just after they had both pitted.
He subsequently pulled away from the Kiwi, who gave him a hand by keeping Yuki Tsunoda, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton behind. At a venue where it’s so easy to get it wrong overall it was solid performance, even allowing for the fact that he already knew it from F2.
“Not even a discussion, Monza was pretty poor,” said Antonelli when asked to compare Baku with the previous event. “This track is quite a bit more difficult. And there was no margin of error.
“It was very intense, the pace was very high, and driving-wise, I did a couple of mistakes. But also, fair to say, was the first time in Baku with F1.
“And also, we didn’t do any long running practice. So it was a bit of a discovery, of course, for everyone as well. But still a much better race than Monza.
“It’s been a difficult period and European season, and after all the criticism, and difficult moments, we managed to do a good result. And now is the important thing is to do this consistently.”
Had Antonelli been able to get past Carlos Sainz and claim third it would have been a perfect day, but nevertheless it was a good outcome at a track where there’s so little margin for error.
“Well, it’s a little bit disappointing because the podium was so close,” he said when I asked him about the race. “The hard tyre felt very good, quite a bit better than the medium. And the deg on the hard was minimum, and every lap was just getting better and better.
“So it was a bit of a shame, because I ended up being overcut. But still, I think it was decent performance.
“I was hoping for the podium, to be honest, because I almost got into the DRS of Carlos, but then I started to struggle a bit with the dirty air, especially in the second sector, and the tyres started to suffer a little bit.
“But still a decent performance for the team, because we gained quite a few points in the constructors.’ And now we will try to carry this momentum into Singapore as well.”
The pass on Lawson, who ran out of battery at the end of the straight having used it to defend earlier in the lap, was a useful boost.
“Yeah, I could see when he was using the energy and when he wasn’t,” said Antonelli. “I was struggling quite a bit on traction. I was getting close end of sector one and halfway through sector two.
“But then in all those critical traction phases I was struggling, and just couldn’t get the momentum. And only on hard, I had quite a bit of pace advantage, and I could get past.
“But it’s a shame, because I lost quite a bit of time behind him, especially in the first stint, and probably the outcome could have been different.”
The main thing was that he had pleased Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who was so clearly disappointed following the Italian GP.
“It was a really good rebound after Monza,” said the Austrian. “He had such a difficult spell with the European races. And coming in here with a with a solid P4, running in the front group, that’s something to continue to build on and consolidate and then score more good weekends until the end of the year.”
It was intriguing to learn from Mercedes engineering boss Andrew Shovlin in Baku that due to an issue with the Brackley simulator Antonelli had not been able to conduct his usual preparations for Zandvoort and Monza, which perhaps contributed to his Friday mistakes at both of those venues.
Shovlin also noted that Mercedes has continued to hone Antonelli’s sim programme, and that in turn may have helped to boost his Baku performance.
Can the youngster carry on the good work in Singapore, a track he has yet to sample outside the virtual world, and on to other upcoming venues – most of which he already has some experience of? It will be fascinating to see.
Adam Cooper F1 