Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says they “absolutely expected” the rollercoaster nature of Kimi Antonelli’s rookie F1 season and retain “no doubt” concerning the teenager’s final potential after this Dutch Grand Prix was undone by crashing into Charles Leclerc.
Antonelli, 19, skilled an incident-packed weekend on the resumption of F1’s season at Zandvoort.
It in the end yielded no factors after his race-day collision with Leclerc earned him a 10-second penalty. That, mixed with a subsequent five-second sanction for dashing within the pit lane, finally dropped the Italian from sixth to sixteenth within the remaining classification.
It means Antonelli has scored only a single level within the final 5 races however Wolff, whose Mercedes outfit first signed the Italian to their junior programme as a 12-year-old and this yr made him the third-youngest F1 driver of all time as alternative for the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton, will not be fearful.
“When we made it clear last year in Monza that we would give him the opportunity, it was also saying that we would give him a year of learning and there would be moments where we’d tear our hair out and there would be other moments of brilliance,” mentioned Wolff.
“I think this weekend pretty much sums that up.”
‘We wish him to go for the strikes’ – Wolff on Antonelli’s ‘ups and downs’
Antonelli’s Zandvoort weekend started inauspiciously when he beached his automobile within the gravel within the opening minutes of Friday’s apply session.
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Kimi Antonelli received his Mercedes caught within the gravel throughout opening apply on the Dutch Grand Prix.
After dropping the remainder of that session, he went on to qualify eleventh after simply lacking out on Q3 on Saturday.
He dropped to twelfth behind Yuki Tsunoda’s Purple Bull firstly of Sunday’s race however his weekend all of the sudden got here alive across the race’s first Security Automotive, triggered when Ferrari’s Hamilton crashed out.
Shifting into the factors after his cease, Antonelli impressively overtook Alex Albon for seventh on lap 34 and was then allowed previous team-mate George Russell, whose automobile had sustained ground injury in an incident with Leclerc, for sixth seven laps later.
Antonelli then set after Leclerc himself however, after discovering himself on the Ferrari’s tail after Mercedes pitted him a lap earlier than the Ferrari, he oversteered into his rival’s automobile as he tried an overtake by going low into the banked Flip Three.
His subsequent penalties and two extra Security Automotive intervals meant his mixed 15-second sanction was notably pricey given the pack completed nearer collectively than would have been the case had the race run uninterrupted.
Reflecting on Antonelli’s newest turbulent weekend, Wolff mentioned: “The mistake in FP1, clearly something that puts you on the back foot for the rest of the weekend, and then in the race, these moments of great driving.
“As soon as he was in free air, he was behind the McLaren the quickest automobile, caught up, after which once more was concerned in that accident that sadly meant the tip for Charles’ race.
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Highlights of the Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort.
“But we want him to go for the moves, obviously. So up and downs, and that was absolutely expected from this season and every one of those days is going to be a learning for next year.
“We’re not preventing for a constructor championship. After all it is P2 and P3 [in the standings] that’s at stake, however this has much less relevance than subsequent yr when it is vital to attain the factors.”
Antonelli apologised to Leclerc for the accident after the race and will now head into his first home Italian Grand Prix at Monza this coming week aiming to get his season back on track.
And Wolff insisted: “You all the time want that the educational has much less humps and bumps than it has right now as a result of the swings are huge but it surely’s there. It simply must be unpeeled like an artichoke the place on the finish there may be the gold.
“It’s there and we have no doubt.”
F1’s European season concludes with the Italian Grand Prix – watch the entire Monza weekend reside on Sky Sports activities F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
