Make way for the fifth F1 meeting of the season this weekend in Saudi Arabia.
If the McLaren confirm their superiority, that Max Verstappen is still in the spot despite an unreasing RB21 and a George Russell More regular than ever, another driver impresses at the start of the season: Andrea kimi Antonelli.
And the task was not likely for the rookie. At barely 18, the Italian made his F1 debut. All, in a top stable and taking the place of legend Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. Excuse little …
If the choice of Toto wolff To throw his protégé in the deep end this year has left more than one skeptic, the Melbourne Grand Prix made it possible to understand the choice of the director of silver arrows. After starting in Q1 after a missed qualification, and under the flood, Antonelli managed a formidable ascent to rank fourth in his very first F1 Grand Prix.
A week later, in China, he placed his W16 for the first time in Q3 before finishing again in the top 10, in sixth place. Same story in Suzuka. A Grand Prix of Japan where he even paid the luxury of carrying out the race for a few laps, becoming the youngest driver in history to be at the top of a Grand Prix.
In Bahrain, the prodigy signs the best qualification of his career with a fourth place, finally transformed into fifth row After a penalty. But the race goes less well since it finishes eleventh.
I had a disappointing weekend in Bahrain, but that’s where I learned the most
For the first time since its beginnings in the queen category of motorsport, the Mercedes driver therefore does not enter into the points. But not enough to panic, as he explains at the microphone of Gaëtan Vigneron in Djeddah. “”Learning is super important. Admittedly, I had a disappointing weekend in Bahrain, but that’s where I learned the most. I feel better now, I want to do better than Sakhir. Each detail can make the difference in F1 so I continue to learn and progress“.
Next objective for the Bologna native? The qualifying session scheduled for this Saturday at 6.55 p.m. this Saturday.
