Antonelli convinced something was wrong with his car: We need to check the rear
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Mercedes had to overcome every challenge Interlagos could throw at them to seal the Constructors’ Championship. In difficult conditions, Kimi Antonelli slipped to fifth, but that did not have to dampen his spirits after the race, even if several important questions were still troubling him.
Antonelli’s race was ruined by a spin on the approach to Turn 1. After switching from intermediates to softs, the Italian complained about his car’s handling. The team, however, could see nothing in the data. Kimi’s engineer Peter Bonnington insisted that differences in tyre temperatures were to blame. But his driver was not convinced.
It all culminated in a spin that ruined Antonelli’s tyres and sent him tumbling down the order, leaving him unable to recover. Although Mercedes sealed the Constructors’ Championship, pressing questions remained, as Kimi did not believe tyre temperatures had caused the problems. “We need to check something with the geometry of the car, of the rear, because I had this issue only in left corners,” Antonelli told Sky after the race when discussing his problems.
“So it was especially at high speed when I was feeling it the most, and the rear felt very unstable. Even coming into the finish line in the left kink, the rear was very loose, which was weird,” Kimi continued.
“We need to check something in the car to see if anything happened. But it was a very odd feeling. And then obviously when I spun, the tyres were gone, all four wheels was flat-spotted, and only when I then put on the second set, we got back the pace,” Antonelli added.
Something similar also happened to George Russell in the final stint. The issue frustrated Kimi so much that, when he arrived back in the garage, he briefly interrupted the title celebrations as they were getting under way, taking his engineer Peter Bonnington aside to ask him a few questions.
Of course, on occasions like these, celebrations take priority, and both men then joined their colleagues in toasting a deserved title. “They deserve this championship,” Antonelli said of his team’s constructors’ title. “Incredible year by, you know, everyone. Not only all the people here at the track, but everyone back at the factory in Brackley and Brixworth.”
“You know, they’ve done an incredible year, and it’s an amazing group of people. They just push every day to do their best and to give us the best opportunity to fight for wins and championship. And this year they’ve done an incredible job, and that’s why they deserve this championship, and now we’re all going to enjoy it together,” a happy Kimi added.
