Antonelli rues low grip conditions after his challenging opening day
Despite a relatively challenging first day at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Mercedes' Italian sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli insisted that while he needs to sort things out to extract everything from his car over a single qualifying lap, he was buoyed by his W16's race pace.
Despite being on home turf this weekend, Andrea Kimi Antonelli did not look too comfortable in his car at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The Italian ended up 13th quickest in the opening practice, but he dropped down the order to finish in P18 in the second one-hour session.
The Bologna-born driver insisted that there is no need to panic as his W16 displayed a strong performance in race configuration, although he conceded that he will need to sort out his issues when his car is configured for a low-fuel qualifying lap.
"I struggled to put everything together on my single laps today. There were some mistakes on my side and the low grip conditions did not make it ideal to get the C6 compound performing.
“On the other side, I felt good on the long runs with the car providing a good overall balance. After these two sessions, I know what we need to work on and what I need to do to perform at my best in tomorrow's Qualifying and Sunday’s race.
"It is obviously a really special race for me. During that first lap in FP1, it felt amazing to see all these fans in the grandstand and along the track. It gives so much energy, and when I put my visor down, I am ready to get the job done.
“Thank you to everyone who was trackside today cheering the team on; I’m looking forward to seeing that support over the rest of the weekend."
His team-mate George Russell looked quick from word go at Imola, topping the session briefly after going out for his soft shod run very early on. The Briton ended up fourth quickest in FP2, replicating his performance from the opening session.
"It feels great to be back driving at Imola. This track is one of my favourites and it is definitely one of those circuits that we all love coming to. It has a good mixture of low, medium, and high-speed corners, and it is quite narrow in places. There isn’t a huge amount of run off either, so you need to be at your absolute best to extract a really good lap time."
Reflecting on the pecking order, Russell conceded that he was surprised by "a few unexpected teams" that showed better performance than in
"The field was really tight today in both sessions, with a few unexpected teams performing really well. As expected, the McLarens were out front setting the benchmark today. It is likely that they will be the favourites to set the pace tomorrow in Qualifying; our aim is to hopefully get amongst them.
"We’ll keep working hard tonight to identify areas that we can improve in. If we are able to do so, then we can hopefully reduce the gap to the very front and have an enjoyable Saturday."
