Antonelli opens up about struggles: 'I made point to myself, I wasn't delivering'
Kimi Antonelli has had a difficult run of form at the recent Grands Prix. The Italian driver acknowledges that, and looks forward to bounce back immediately ahead of the summer break.
Since the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, the Italian rookie could only score points on one occasion, when he achieved his first ever podium in the competition in Montreal.
Some DNFs were caused by mechanical issues with his car, but Antonelli also says results did not go the way he imagined.
"Well, for sure, I think I made a very clear point to myself, especially after Spa qualifying, that I wasn't delivering, especially like I wanted [to]. If I look at the first six races, it was looking very positive, having a nice progression," he began to GPblog among others.
"I was feeling good in the car. After Miami, I got my first pole, the race, there was something to fix. I didn't drive the best in the race but still I was coming off the weekend with really high confidence and then since Imola, I've been doing backwards steps," he continued.
Antonelli explained that he struggled to adapt to the changes to the suspension of the Mercedes car. For this weekend, both for him and George Russell, they will change back to the old version.
"In Spain I really look inside myself and I made a clear point that with this suspension I was not able to deliver as I could previously, and that probably also I didn't adapt the best way to extract the best performance out of the car."
"So I made the point that at the moment, I was not performing the best, and it was hard to accept. It's hard to accept these kind of things, but it's also good for yourself because it also helps you to set goals and also to try and improve yourself and work on yourself even harder. So I think it was not easy, but I think on the other side it's helpful because it helps you to refocus and to work harder on yourself even more."
He also added his style made the car more 'unpredictable', and his more experienced teammate, Russell, could adapt better.
Antonelli ready to bounce back
The Italian is eager to bounce back immediately after he failed to score points in Spa-Francorchamps. He can do so at the Hungaroring, where he won his first and only F2 feature race.
"I like to have back to backs because obviously you're in the rhythm, which is nice, but at the same time, it's been a difficult weekend and I really want to do well this weekend before going to summer break. And I think if I would have had a big gap, it would have been really hard because I would have been busting my balls the whole time. So I'm happy that we have another race weekend straight after."
About his feelings, he added: "I think it's sometimes the best way is to just let it all out, instead of keeping it for yourself because I think in some cases it's just going to hurt even more. I was very frustrated with my performances because I feel like the potential is just so much higher than what I've been showing. So definitely I was really frustrated and it was a good moment to let it all out and definitely made me feel much better afterwards."
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