Mercedes has launched a “deep dive” into Kimi Antonelli’s efficiency on the Components 1 Dutch Grand Prix after the championship chief revealed he had a “troublesome second half” of the race as he struggled with the steadiness of his W17.
Antonelli had a powerful begin to the grand prix. After qualifying third, he jumped team-mate George Russell off the road to safe second place earlier than the top of lap one. Nevertheless, with every tyre change he accomplished, the championship chief discovered an increasing number of points together with his automobile.
“It was actually bizarre as a result of I felt good with the medium. I felt first rate on the primary onerous, however then on the second it simply felt actually odd,” Antonelli defined after ending runner-up to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Now, Mercedes has confirmed that it’s wanting into the problems Antonelli confronted to try to resolve them earlier than the subsequent spherical in Italy.
“Every tyre had a bit extra oversteer than the tyre earlier than it and we’re making an attempt to grasp why that was,” defined Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin within the crew’s Dutch GP debrief video.
“Now, we did not change the automobile, we did not add any aero steadiness, which is the kind of factor that might have defined it. So, we’re having an actual deep dive into the information and try to resolve that as a result of it is essential to resolve these kind of issues forward of the subsequent race.
“It is clearly getting actually tight now by way of efficiency. We’re nonetheless ready for our main replace to land and that can assist however within the meantime, it will be a little bit of a struggle.”
The championship chief settled for second within the Netherlands
Photograph by: Pauline Ballet – Components 1
Antonelli stated the difficulty left him with “little confidence within the automobile” in the direction of the top of the race, when he was defending in opposition to the charging Ferrari pair of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, plus closing in on Russell.
Ultimately, as Antonelli and Russell had been on offset methods, the Briton let his younger team-mate by way of, which allowed Antonelli to safe second and lengthen his championship lead.
“George, , I’ve to thank him as a result of he made my life loads simpler,” Antonelli defined. “However I nonetheless assume in all probability may have stayed out and gone till the top with the identical set as a result of it put us a bit of bit in danger. Additionally, I really feel we put George in danger with having to let me by and all the pieces.
“However I nonetheless assume, on the finish of the day, it was an excellent crew execution with how issues had been, and I feel right this moment P2 was the utmost we may have finished as a result of the tempo of the McLarens, particularly within the second half, was simply too robust.”
Mercedes can be hoping it may uncover the difficulty forward of Antonelli’s house race in Italy, the place it has confirmed that he’ll take an engine penalty on account of reliability points he confronted earlier within the season.
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