For Kimi Antonelli, the Italian home race in Imola was a disappointment – what lessons both the 18-year-old Italian and his Mercedes team are taking away from it
For Kimi Antonelli, the first of two home races was disappointing. After finishing 13th in qualifying, the Italian had to retire from the race early with a defect. Although he had little influence on Sunday’s events, Antonelli admits that the hype surrounding him robbed him of the energy he needed.
“I also have to learn to say ‘no’ sometimes and take more time for myself,” he concluded. The 18-year-old rushed from one appointment to the next: before the weekend, he celebrated FC Bologna’s surprise title win, and on Thursday he welcomed his entire school class to the paddock.
It was a workload that also took its toll on the track. “Overall, it was probably the worst weekend in terms of performance,” Antonelli admits. “That’s why I’m going to try to recover well and come back stronger in Monaco.”
The many selfies and autograph requests he fulfilled in Imola clearly took their toll. “I love the support of the fans,” he emphasizes. “But I don’t think I paced myself well, which definitely affected my performance on the track. I could feel it. I wasn’t as relaxed, a little more tense when driving.”
A bitter but instructive lesson, especially with September in mind, when the premier class returns to Italy, this time to the royal park of Monza. “It was a good lesson for the next home race,” says Antonelli with a smile.
Mercedes also learns lessons from Imola
Mercedes also wants to draw conclusions from the emotional weekend in Imola. “For all of us, and for Kimi, performance is the top priority,” Mercedes team spokesman Bradley Lord told the English-language edition of Motorsport.com.
“We knew it was going to be a big weekend with a lot of attention. Within the team, we saw that he was focused and concentrated. But experiencing all of that for the first time – things you can control, but also many things you can’t control – is new.”
“We have to see this as a learning experience, find out what gave him energy and what overwhelmed him,” Lord added. ‘We will learn from this, both for stressful race weekends and for the next home race in Italy in September.’
