Mercedes, a top Formula 1 racing team, admits their young driver, Kimi Antonelli, struggled at his home race in Imola, Italy, due to too many off-track distractions and social commitments. The team and Antonelli himself realize this was a major learning experience, especially with another home race in Monza coming up. This situation highlights the intense pressure and demands placed on young athletes in global sports like Formula 1, and the need for them to manage their energy effectively. While this specific incident doesn’t have a direct local impact on India, it offers a glimpse into the high-stakes world of international motorsports, which has a growing fan base in India.
Mercedes has acknowledged that their rookie Formula 1 driver, Kimi Antonelli, was “toast as early as Friday” during his home race at Imola last weekend. The team is now planning to use the lessons learned from this experience for the upcoming Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Antonelli, who hails from Bologna, had a large number of friends, family, and supporters present at the Imola event. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff mentioned that everyone “wanted to have a little bit of Kimi.”
However, the race turned out to be disappointing for Antonelli. He qualified 13th and, despite being on track for a good race result helped by a timely virtual safety car, a throttle problem led to his first F1 retirement.
In Monaco this week, Antonelli confessed that he had spent too much time and energy on distractions outside the track, which negatively affected his performance in the car.
Wolff, who did not attend the Imola race, called it a “learning process.” He also referred to a similar mistake Mercedes felt they made last year when Antonelli had his first official practice session (FP1) at Italy’s other F1 race in Monza and crashed on his second fast lap.
Wolff stated, “We concluded last year that we’ve made a mistake in maybe exposing him in Monza in his first ever running in FP1 to the local crowds and he wanted to perform particularly well.”
Regarding the Imola race, he added, “Then Imola I think was a perfect storm, it’s where he lives, it’s his home track, school, family, local football club, all the people that helped throughout his career wanted to have a little bit of Kimi.”
Wolff explained that Antonelli was “just toast” as early as Friday. “I spoke to him on Saturday, he said ‘I’m out of energy of all of this’,” Wolff recounted.
He empathized with Antonelli, saying, “It’s clear he’s young, he wants to say thank you to everyone who participated. He doesn’t want to be unfriendly to friends, family, fans, all them around.”
Wolff’s advice to the young driver was, “The guidance I gave to him, at a certain stage you need to be, you need to protect yourself. Hide yourself in your engineering room on the Sunday, everything else just comes second.”
He concluded, “All of us together, the family, we realised that was too much and that is a mistake we will not repeat.”
Before the Imola weekend, Antonelli had mixed results, coming off slightly underwhelming races in Miami but also achieving his first pole position in the sprint and qualifying third for the Grand Prix.
Generally, Antonelli has established a good foundation for his rookie season and has shown glimpses of the speed that has convinced Mercedes he could be a future world champion.
However, Antonelli described the Imola weekend as “very intense and very demanding” mentally, feeling he didn’t manage it “the best on my side.”
“I feel like I didn’t do a good enough job and I could feel it when going in the car,” Antonelli said. “Definitely I could feel mentally I was not as present as I usually was and I wasn’t as focused.”
He clarified, “But it’s not because I was thinking about anything else. It was just when you’re a bit mentally tired, it’s also hard to keep the focus.”
Antonelli admitted, “So, definitely I feel on that side I didn’t manage myself, my energy super well and I couldn’t also perform on track like I wanted.”
He called it “a very disappointing weekend on my side” and a “big lesson learned – especially ahead of the next home race, which is going to be Monza, but ahead of the next races in general.”
Antonelli also mentioned taking “some time off just to reset a little bit and to recharge ahead of this weekend because I think it is important to bounce back.”
Mercedes has put in a lot of effort to prepare Antonelli for his rookie season with off-track activities like media work and marketing duties, as these are often unexpected demands that surprise young drivers when they enter F1.
However, Antonelli clarified that the Imola difficulties were not due to team sponsor activities, as he knew it would be busier than usual. Instead, he spent more time with friends and guests “and then not having enough energy left for the driving, which obviously was the most important bit.”
“It was not really about the team’s activities, but was more about myself,” he stated. “How I managed it with of course, people who came to watch, which of course we invited because obviously it was my home race and a really special weekend for me, and we wanted to share this experience also with some of our closest friends.”
He concluded, “But at the same time, I realised too late into the weekend that I was wasting too much energy on that side and not having enough energy left for the important bit.”
Antonelli began the Monaco weekend by setting the 11th-fastest time in the first practice session (FP1), just under three-tenths of a second slower than his teammate George Russell.
Editor’s Note: This article, originally titled “‘He was toast’ – The mistake Mercedes vows not to make again” and published by The Associated Press, has been adapted for an Indian audience.
