Upgrades fell short of expectations in some areas, Antonelli admits

Kimi Antonelli took Mercedes’ upgraded package to victory in Austin, bringing huge relief to the team’s garage. After two weekends spent searching for the right direction, the engineers found a winning formula. The team did not, however, recapture its early-season dominance. Even Kimi Antonelli admitted after the race that the car had not delivered the expected improvement in some areas.

Mercedes completely outclassed the opposition at the start of the season. The best power unit on the grid propelled an excellent car to pole positions and victories. As the season progressed, however, its rivals upgraded their cars and gradually closed the gap.

Mercedes saved its big upgrade for the autumn, but when it finally arrived, the reaction was mixed. The team did not have the fastest package in Malaysia or Singapore, but returned to winning ways in Austin. The engineers can therefore breathe a sigh of relief for now, although Kimi Antonelli believes several questions remain unanswered.

“In some places, I would say, still not as much as we expected, but in other places it is delivering very well,” Antonelli said after the race in Austin.

“You know, I think in the high- and medium-speed the car is very strong. The balance is good. We’re still struggling a little bit in low speed with front locking, but overall, I feel like the package is finally starting to deliver, and we’re starting to see the results and the improvements from the package,” added the soon-to-be F1 world champion.

It was not just a fast car that helped Kimi to victory on Sunday, but also strategy. Mercedes opted for a one-stop strategy, something many teams had not even considered. In the end it paid off, although from the outside it might initially have looked like an unusual choice.

“I mean, we didn’t have much choice, to be fair. We didn’t have any new Softs, so the new Medium was the only choice we really had, or the Hard,” said Antonelli.

“But, you know, the Medium was not amazing. I think today the best tyre was the Hard, just because it was the most resilient tyre, and it was quite surprising because in recent races the Soft has always been probably the best tyre. So, yeah, it was a good surprise, and luckily it worked for us,” Kimi added.