Relaxed Antonelli dominates Friday: Definitely not thinking about championship right now
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Andrea Kimi Antonelli showed no sign of a lingering hangover from his title celebrations in Friday’s free practice sessions. If anything, the young Italian seemed even more relaxed and was driving with a clear head. Second place in first practice and first in the second session make him one of the leading favourites for the weekend.
Mercedes arrived in Brazil well prepared and, as Karun Chandhok noted in the commentary box, Antonelli looked to have found his rhythm superbly. Friday in Brazil was all about feeling comfortable. We saw plenty of lock-ups, minor mistakes and complaints, but the newly crowned world champion simply got on with his own programme.
He also looked very pleased during his post-practice interviews. “Yes, definitely. I’m, you know, more trying to enjoy more. Definitely not thinking about championship right now, but yeah, I’m enjoying,” said Antonelli.
“I think it was an enjoyable day. Not easy out there. Conditions are tricky, but also the grip is quite low overall. The deg seems to be high in the race, so it’s interesting,” the young Italian continued.
“Not easy as well to find the right car balance, but I think we did a good step between FP1 and FP2 and just need to work on for tomorrow,” added Antonelli.
All the teams still have some way to go, and the weather will also be unpredictable. Rain clouds will sweep around Interlagos over the weekend, but whether they deliver any rain remains uncertain. Rain was forecast for today, for example, but none fell. There are still more than enough unanswered questions, then, and although Mercedes, for instance, looked good in the first two free practice sessions, it certainly did not have an unassailable advantage.
“I mean, it’s so uncertain at the moment. I think we’ll try to be ready for anything. It looks like the rain was coming even now and it didn’t do anything, so just need to, yeah, be prepared, be dynamic, because obviously we know how unpredictable the weather can be. So we’ll just try to see where we can improve the car and everything, the driving as well, and then we’ll see tomorrow,” promised Antonelli.
“I think it’s going to be very close. McLaren looks strong, Red Bull looks strong as well, and Ferrari in qualifying can find a little bit of extra. So yeah, I think, we will be all very close to each other. It’s going to be very tight qualifying,” added the newly crowned champion.
