Antonelli excited to continue to 'explore' with Mercedes as F1 confidence grows

21:00, 06 Apr

byToby Nixon

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has reflected on his performance at the Japanese Grand Prix, stating that his confidence is continuing to grow at Mercedes.

The Italian finished in sixth place, just behind his more experienced teammate George Russell. Impressively, Antonelli managed to grab the fastest lap at Suzuka, adding to his confidence. After just three rounds, he's scored 30 points and sits fifth in the standings.

Antonelli spoke about the weekend in the paddock after the race, stating: "Qualifying was a big click because definitely I was able to, already in qualifying, to feel the car more and push it more and today was another step forward. And I'm really looking forward to exploring even more in the next few weekends," the 18-year-old began.

Antonelli feels less 'tense' when driving

"Now I have the feeling that I can play with the car. And it's something that I couldn't really do in the previous two weekends, just because I was definitely a bit more tense while driving. Well now of course I'm getting more experience with the tyres and the car itself, so I'm able to feel it more as well. So definitely a good boost of confidence ahead of next weekend."

The young Mercedes driver also did the longest medium stint of the race, but revealed that this wasn't the plan. "I have to tell you, the plan was different, was to stop earlier." Still, Antonelli gained lots of experience from this shifting plan, even hoping for the challenge of rain.

"As the pace was improving lap by lap and consistent, we decided to stay, because we had no threat from behind. And then we just tried something different and I'm not going to lie, at one point on mediums it started drizzling so I was really hoping for some rain, but unfortunately, it didn't come. At the same time, I cannot complain because today was a really good experience," he explained.

Antonelli heads to Bahrain with a 'different kind of confidence'

Next weekend, the Formula 1 circus rolls around to the Bahrain International Circuit, a track that Antonelli has been to in Formula 2 and in pre-season testing. "I would go into the weekend with a different kind of confidence because I know the track already. We've done testing, so definitely I will be more comfortable with the car and the track."

Still, he can't be too comfortable as different conditions are expected. "Of course, the conditions I think will be much different than testing because it's gonna be much, much hotter, so more good learning. But also I feel quite lucky to have someone like George because he's really been pushing me to do even better so definitely really looking forward to seeing what we can do next weekend."