Antonelli wants to "reset and come back stronger straight away in Budapest"
Having failed to score any points at the Belgian Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli was left to rue his weekend, but he hopes to achieve a "reset and come back stronger straight away in Budapest."
Mercedes endured a tough weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix. George Russell endured an early exit in sprint qualifying, and was unable to make any real progress, ending the 100km dash pointless.
The Briton then went on to qualify in a distant sixth place on Saturday before making little progress in the race to finish fifth, more than half a minute down on race winner Oscar Piastri.
His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli suffered a shock SQ1/Q1 exit in the sprint and the standard qualifying session.
Although the Italian looked fairly competitive on damp surface, he was unable to make huge progress, and a tactical move to pit for a second time backfired, and saw Antonelli wound up outside the points in 16th.
Speaking of his disappointing weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, Antonelli conceded that the Belgian Grand Prix was a weekend to forget, but he wants to have a "chance to reset" at this weekend's Budapest round.
"We opted to change the set-up in anticipation of a wet race today and, during those first few laps, that proved beneficial. The car felt good, and I was able to make some overtakes and progress up the field.
"Unfortunately, the track dried quickly and for the rest of the race we were losing out on the straights to some of the cars we were racing," the Italian added.
"Despite being able to stick close to those we were racing, we were unable to get any overtakes done. That meant we opted to try something different and went to the two-stop, but the result was similar as we got stuck behind the Haas of Esteban Ocon.
"It's been a difficult weekend here in Spa, but we have the chance to reset and come back stronger straight away in Budapest. We want to go into the summer shutdown with some momentum and I, and the team, are focused on doing that."
