As a supposed talent of the century, Mercedes pilot Andrea Kimi Antonelli went through the first crisis of his career. With a head shaking maneuver, he made himself unpopular in front of his home game in Monza at the Tifosi, the experts mercilessly calculate. Just doesn’t do Antonelli? The facts speak a clear language that increases pressure.
Jacques Villeneuve is not known for keeping criticism behind the mountain. And so the world champion rumbled in the usual plain text mode when he spoke to Kimi Antonelli’s maneuver at the Netherlands GP against Charles Leclerc.
“This is not a Formula 1 campaign, this is not a racing driver campaign, which is basically a very amateurous campaign-and you are here in Formula 1,” Villeneuve pulls at “Comeon.com“From the leather.
What happened?
Mercedes-Rokie Antonelli had approached Leclerc on the inside, hit the left rear wheel of the Ferrari. Leclerc put a pirouette down, crashed into the wall and retired – zero number for the Monegassen, punishment and also zero points for culprit Antonelli.
Formula 1 legend counts Mercedes-Rokie Antonelli
“It was obvious that it would not work when I saw how he dipped inside, I thought: ‘What does he think, where he ends,” Villeneuve commented on the impossible maneuver of the 18-year-old.
The fact that Antonelli later stated that he was surprised when he headed for Leclerc made the whole thing worse for the Canadian: “No! He (Leclerc, D.Red.) Was on the racing line. What did he (Antonelli, i.e. -Red.) To have only thought what he is doing?”
RTL expert Christian Danner in the sport.de-Rennanalysis. “He tried something that didn’t work. That shouldn’t happen,” said the former F1 pilot and put his finger in the wound: “As a Hadjar drives -as a rookie -an Antonelli actually has to drive too.”
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Hadjar drove to the first podium in Zandvoort, Antonelli shot the goat of the day. Formula 1 is “not a school desk to get better, but the best come into Formula 1,” emphasized Danner. Is Antonelli one of the best?
More and more observers now put the question mark behind the skills of the Italian – especially compared to the other green horn in the field.
“Take a look at (Gabriel Bortoleto). He takes steps forward,” said Villeneuve. For Antonelli there are “no excuses, he is in Mercedes. There is a huge team around it”.
Other rookies perform stronger than Antonelli
The former world champion addressed another sore point. None of the other rookies were meticulously prepared for Formula 1, as Antonelli. Mercedes chief Toto Wolff had his student torn down in older racing cars for thousands of kilometers. “He was prepared for the (the F1, d.Red.), And since the start of the season he has not made any progress,” said Villeneuve.
Is that that way? A simply yes would be under complex. After all, Antonelli reliably drove into the points five times in the first six Grands Prix of the year, became fourth in his debut in Melbourne, then four times sixth.
At the sixth race weekend, Antonelli even set the first career highlight in Miami: Pole position in the qualification for the sprint – many critics cheered. Three technically related failures followed, for which the youngster couldn’t do anything before the next success in Canada with the first podium of the career.
But: Nothing has been running at all since then, the trend is clearly not Antonelli’s friend. In Spielberg, he shot Max Verstappen in round 1 in the pointed back completely over -motivated, demolished both cars. The first violent mistake of the year. Can happen, wipe your mouth, continue, was called from the silver arrow warehouse and also Verstappen pardoned the Mercedes-Bock.
Antonelli urgently needs to deliver – with a view to 2027
The completely unrealistic Zandvoort maneuver with Leclerc’s shooting weighs more heavily-when the Monegasse in Ferrari services took its young colleague protected and not further on Antonelli. Maybe because the veteran knew that this would do enough.
Before the F1 home game in Monza, the pressure on the young “Kimi” swelled into a dangerous area. The hype to burst the supposed super talent. Certainly: Wolff will stick to his long -standing junior, Antonelli will also pilot the silver arrow next season.
Only: The rookie now has to deliver, he really wants to have a future in the premier class. 2027 comes faster than you think. A Max Verstappen could then be on the market for Mercedes. Until then, Antonelli has not left any signs of success in the asphalt, it is not only an option for Mercedes.
Russell drives Antonelli around the ears
In the duel with his established Mercedes rival George Russell, Antonelli urgently has to increase. The view of the naked numbers is even more painful for him than the faux pas recently in Holland.
In qualifying it is 1:14 against Russell, 0:15 in the race. Strapping: On the qualifying Saturday, Antonelli is half a second slower than the Brit (Methodology: Average of the intervals from the last qualifying segment in which both took part). The more robust median value against outlier does not read much better with a gap of more than three and a half tenths of a second.
On the one hand, Antonelli has to become considerably faster if he wants to keep up with Russell and drive at the level of an established top pilot. And on the other hand, he has to do it without building further accidents. A narrow ridge – for the nerves, the gas and brake foot.
When Andrea Kimi Antonelli came into Formula 1, the reputation of a supposed talent was preceded by him. Comparisons with Max Verstappen, who came to the premier class at a similar age in 2015.
Of all this is the likeable Italian, which everyone really likes in the paddock, is currently far away. Instead, he travels to Monza with heavy luggage. A Casa A sense of achievement must be a sense of achievement before the critical Tifosi – and Antonelli shouldn’t shoot a Ferrari again at the full throttle temple of Italy.