Antonelli tempered after successful 1st day: 'Much work in coming days'
F1 News
It is only his first Formula 1 season, but Andrea Kimi Antonelli is one of the more notable talents on the grid. And even after the Mercedes rookie finished at the top of the timesheets during the morning session, he still refrained from making any wild assumptions.
Antonelli showed his speed during the first day of winter testing. "That’s the first morning in the car done and it was a good session," the Italian reacted after the session in a Mercedes press release after the first day of running in Bahrain.
Antonelli remains focused despite successful 1st day
"I really enjoyed getting behind the wheel of the W16 and working through our programme. It was nice to start to build my feeling with the car and get some laps under our belt. We completed our programme but there is a lot more work to get through over the next two days so I can’t wait to get back on track tomorrow," Antonelli added.
Team-mate George Russell, who did the afternoon session, was also satisfied with his first day of action driving the W16. "It was good to get in the W16 for the first day of testing and start to understand more about the car. It was a positive day as everything went smoothly and we were able to work through our programme, despite the interruption with the lights going out in the afternoon!," added Russell referencing the power outage that neutralised the session for an hour.
"It’s only the first day, and the cool conditions are unusual for Bahrain, so we can’t read too much into performance at the moment. We can pleased with our work today though and we’re looking forward to getting back on circuit tomorrow," the Mercedes driver explained.
This article was written in collaboration with Esteban den Toom.
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