This weekend in Austria Kimi Antonelli returns to the scene of his first Formula 1 experience gained with a TPC run with Mercedes last year.
And he does so on a mission to “make a step” and up his game from the start of each race weekend.
The Italian has hitherto adopted an approach of steadily building up momentum over Friday and Saturday.
It’s a logical approach, and one taken by Oscar Piastri in his rookie season. And in Antonelli’s case it’s also a reaction to his Monza FP1 crash last year, when he went too hard too soon.
However it has sometimes caught him out as he’s found the jump from FP3 to the level of commitment required in actual qualifying to be significant.
Indeed, he’s regularly made good forward progress through actual qualifying sessions as he builds up his knowledge with each run. But the lingering feeling is that his ultimate grid positions could be better if he was able to be right on it from the start of Q1.
Having logged his first podium with third in Canada – and with team mate George Russell having proved there that the W16 is capable of winning races – he realises that he needs to approach the limit earlier in the weekend, and thus be in a potentially stronger position come qualifying.
“I think Canada was really important for me,” he said on Thursday. “It was a big relief. But as well, it was important because I think there was couple of time in the season where I came close to the podium.
“Australia, first race, I came incredibly close, and as well with Miami, with the pole in the sprint and P3 in the quali, I remember back then that was the goal to be at least in the podium. But I just missed out. And to finally achieve that in Canada definitely was really important.
“And I think as well, this will help me, as a driver, to drive a bit more relaxed as well. Because, I’m not going to lie, in the previous weekends, I’ve been maybe a bit too tense on some occasions, and a bit too conservative as well, especially in practice.
“And I think now is really the time, after achieving this result to make a step, and to make a step further and to improve, to prove myself, especially as well on the approach in practice.
“So trying to explore a bit more, especially the grip. Because I think in qualifying, I’ve been always arriving with a bit too many question marks, and having to explore too much and to learn too much.
“And in qualifying, you don’t really have much time, because it’s only one lap on the tyre, and then that’s it. So I think it’s really the time to make a step on this side.”
Antonelli readily admits that the Monza crash has weighed on his mind and affected his overall approach.
“I think still in Canada I was a bit too conservative, especially in FP, because if you look at the trend in FP, I would always arrive quite late into the session.
“I always put the time quite late in the session, just because it kind of required me many laps to get to get there.
“I truly believe I over-corrected after what happened in Monza, and now I’m a bit too safe, I’m a bit on the safest side. But that’s why I think after getting such a result this, results like this also help you to move forward and to make the step.
“I think now is the time to do the step, because nowadays, F1 is super tight, especially when you see qualifying, the gaps are just so close that even a 10th can put you in the back foot.
“So it’s really important to be on the top of the game, and that’s why I cannot keep arriving in qualifying with so many question marks and not the right confidence on how much grip there is, and having to explore too much and to learn too much.
“So I think now is the time, especially in practice, to get back a bit closer to Monza. Not exactly like Monza! But get closer to that in order to arrive ready in quali.”
An intriguing aspect of Antonelli’s season is that some of his best performances came in Miami and Montreal, tracks he didn’t know. He’s now coming to a run of European venues that he knows well from F2, and in some cases has also done TPC running.
“As a driver, when you go in a new track, it’s always very exciting. But I don’t know why I’ve been going so much better in tracks that I didn’t know. Even Suzuka. First time in Suzuka, you know, the race went pretty well. And then in tracks, I didn’t know I’ve been I’ve been struggling a bit more. I think,
“I think also in the European season, Monaco, Imola, I’ve been struggling, as I said, also previously with the C6 and that really also put me in a position where I also put kind of more pressure on myself, just because I could see I couldn’t really extract the best out of the tyre, and performance-wise, I didn’t really feel that confident.
“And while Montreal, of course, there was the C6, but you know, in those two races, I was able to learn a lot more, and I was a lot more confidence about the tyre and on how to extract the maximum out of it.
“But, yeah, I cannot find an explanation of why I went so much better on new tracks. That’s why this weekend I want to go well.”
Adam Cooper F1 