Antonelli reveals why he struggled on slick tyres in "treacherous" conditions at Silverstone
Having retired from the British Grand Prix after an unfortunate incident with Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar, Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli has revealed that he was unable to "build any temperatures" in his hard tyres.
Mercedes had a challenging weekend at Silverstone. The Brackley-based outfit struggled for pace on Friday, but George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli still managed to secure fourth and seventh place in qualifying.
With the race having taken place in changeable conditions, there were several key decision points that derailed Mercedes’ day at Silverstone.
George Russell pitted on the formation lap which was a few laps too early given the wet track surface in Sector 3. It meant that the Briton lost valuable race time in the opening stages of the race.
His team-mate Kimi Antonelli pitted for slicks during the virtual safety car, but it also proved a bit too early and as he elected to put on hards he massively struggled for tyre temperatures.
Russell and Antonelli switched back to the Intermediate tyre as heavy rain fell after 10 laps before several Virtual Safety Car and Safety Car interruptions brought racing to a halt.
After the action got back underway, the Bologna-born driver was hit from behind by the Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar who was unsighted by spray. The subsequent diffuser damage forced the Italian into an early retirement.
In the meantime, Russell made it back into the points, he once again made an early switch to slicks as the track dried. After rejoining, he spun at Turn 10 and lost ground. He fought back into the top-10 but could only bring home a solitary point in P10.
Reflecting on his disappointing afternoon at Silverstone, Antonelli has revealed that he was unable to "build any temperatures" in his hard tyres.
"That was a tough day. I wasn’t sure about stopping for the Hard tyre in the opening laps, but we made the call. Sadly, the Virtual Safety Car came out shortly afterwards and I couldn’t build any temperature in the tyre.
"I struggled once we were back underway to generate the necessary heat and that left me unable to utilise any pace advantage we may have had as the track dried.
"Once the rain hit, the conditions became treacherous. Even once the Safety Car had come back in, visibility was still very poor and there was lots of standing water. That is what caught out Hadjar and that was just unfortunate for the both of us.
"I tried to continue but the diffuser damage I suffered was too much and we had to retire the car. A weekend to forget then but we will look to come back stronger in Spa," Antonelli concluded.
