Kimi Antonelli’s Formula 1 homecoming turned into a bit of a disaster after retiring from his home race in Imola.
His Mercedes gave way with a quarter of the race to go, but he wasn’t in contention for much more than a few points.
Antonelli has shown glimpses of stardom this year, but needs to find a little more consistency if he is to seriously challenge teammate George Russell.
He has now dropped to seventh in the drivers’ championship, his lowest position of the year, after Lewis Hamilton scored strong points in Italy.
Following a tricky weekend, including a Q2 elimination, Antonelli’s ‘flawless’ image has ‘suffered’ and he has some work to do.
Mercedes staff have said good things about Antonelli following some strong feedback this year. Now he needs to turn that into results on the track.
READ MORE: James Hinchcliffe pinpoints the area Kimi Antonelli is ‘somewhat lacking’ after his first six races in Formula 1
Kimi Antonelli failed to follow Toto Wolff’s advice after ‘pep talk’ ahead of Imola race
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Antonelli to improve if he wants to get preference over George Russell at some stage.
His performance in Italy wasn’t convincing, though, with Sky Sports F1’s Harry Benjamin sharing that the situation may have been overbearing for him.
“I wonder if it was just becoming a little bit too difficult to block out the noise for him on that front. As such a young kid, that’s so hard to deal with,” he said.
“Not only have you got to drive a Formula 1 car, but you’ve got to deal with literally being in his backyard. He’s the boy from Bologna, 40 kilometres I think Bologna is from Imola. That maybe just proved a little bit tricky.
“I think we saw Toto giving him a little bit of a pep talk in the build-up to this weekend as well on video call. Just kind of reminding him to stay calm, don’t let it all go to your head, just focus on each day. Focus on the sessions and I think that’s something that he’s got to work on and deliver,” he continued.
“He’s got so much promise, Miami showed it. The raw speed is absolutely there. But, he just needs to put together a full weekend now.”
READ MORE: Jacques Villeneuve has heard Mercedes insider ‘was not super happy’ with what Kimi Antonelli has done at Imola
Ted Kravitz defends ‘incredibly quick’ Kimi Antonelli after tough Imola weekend
Benjamin’s Sky Sports colleagues weren’t in complete agreement, though, with Ted Kravitz coming to the defence of the young Italian after his home debut.
“I’d be a bit more generous to Kimi actually. First thing, I spent a day with him on Monday doing a feature for a later race, Spain probably. What he said is that he’s a hugger basically,” he said.
“He’s not like Max Verstappen when he came in the same age. Kimi is a hugger, he’ll hug everybody. He’ll hug you after a good result, he’ll hug his parents, he’ll hug his sister. He’s an affectionate hugging guy.
“That’s just the way he is, and he’s incredibly quick, so it’s not his fault his car broke down. Yes, alright, you could argue that qualifying was his fault, but the car was clearly nowhere this weekend. So I really don’t think you can blame him.”
He doesn’t have time to dwell on his home result, with the current triple header taking the drivers to Monaco this weekend – a rookie’s nightmare.
Leave feedback about this