From P17 to P3: The Mercedes rookie completed 48 laps on one set of tires and surprised everyone—including himself.
Kimi Antonelli delivered an impressive comeback in Las Vegas. Starting from 17th on the grid, the Mercedes rookie fought his way up to fifth place, despite a five-second penalty for a false start. In the end, he even finished third due to the disqualification of the McLarens. However, the biggest challenge was not the competition, but the tires.
48 laps on one set of hard Pirelli tires demanded everything from the 18-year-old Italian. “I talked to the tires on the straights every lap for the last 20 laps,” Antonelli said after the race. “I just asked them to please hold out until the end.”
Halfway through the race, graining became noticeable. Antonelli became nervous because at that point he didn’t know whether Mercedes would actually go for the one-stop strategy. It was only 20 laps before the end that the decisive radio message came: Plan B. That meant driving to the finish line on the same tires.
Steep learning curve for the rookie
“I knew I would have to make it to the end with this set,” said Antonelli. “So I tried to manage it.” But management became more difficult when Oscar Piastri in the McLaren appeared within DRS range. Antonelli had to push again, even though the tires had already suffered.
What happened next surprised even the rookie. The graining began to clear up. “Thanks to some tips from the team while driving, the graining started to dissipate a bit,” he explained. The lap times got faster instead of slower. In the last ten laps, Antonelli continuously increased his pace.
He was lucky: Piastri himself was under pressure from Leclerc and used the DRS through Antonelli to keep the Ferrari at bay. Due to the 5-second penalty against the Italian, Piastri did not have to overtake him to stay ahead. Leclerc, on the other hand, ruined his tires with his attacks and ended up falling behind Antonelli.
Praise from the boss
Toto Wolff was impressed by his protégé’s maturity. Speaking to Sky Deutschland (before the announcement of McLaren’s disqualification), the Mercedes team boss praised him: “Unbelievable, from 17th to 5th, the fastest times at the end.”
Wolff particularly emphasized Antonelli’s adaptability: “He realized, okay, the car is understeering, so I’m going to destroy the tires a bit at the rear and then basically rebalance the car.”
Traction was the biggest problem in the end. “The traction became really difficult,” Antonelli admitted. “The rear started to give way, so I really had to work on the tools and also adjust my driving style.” When he had to push even harder in the final laps, the tires continued to give way. But they held out.
Antonelli clearly denied that he had deliberately held up Piastri and Charles Leclerc to help teammate George Russell get on the podium. “To be honest, I was driving my own race. I was even trying to catch George,” he said. “I just wanted to maximize the result because it was important to score good points for the team.”
At the start of the race, Mercedes did not expect the one-stop strategy to work. But Antonelli surpassed himself and showed that he is not only fast but also clever. What might have been if qualifying had gone better remains speculation.