Valtteri Bottas sends warning to Kimi Antonelli ahead of Chinese Grand Prix after ‘lucky’ Melbourne race

Kimi Antonelli displayed a stunning recovery drive to finish fourth on his Formula 1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

The Italian’s first race for Mercedes did not get off to a great start as he was eliminated in Q1 in P16. Mercedes announced Antonelli had damaged his floor after running onto the gravel trap at turn six, affecting his performance.

Sunday brought unpredictable weather conditions for the Australian Grand Prix, with four new full-time drivers crashing out in the rain. However, Antonelli avoided the walls and climbed his way through the field

After the second rain shower produced chaos in the pit lane, the 18-year-old found his way to P4 and held position to score an incredible 12 points on debut. Antonelli was initially demoted to fifth for an unsafe release, but Mercedes later got the penalty reversed.

Damon Hill praised Antonelli’s debut after he climbed a staggering 12 places during the race. He becomes the second-youngest points scorer in F1 history behind Max Verstappen.

The Italian will be keen to carry the momentum and grab another top result at the Chinese Grand Prix. But the Shanghai International Circuit will provide an entirely different challenge – and Valtteri Bottas has issued a warning to the young talent.

Valtteri Bottas warns Kimi Antonelli he was ‘lucky’ with his spin during the Australian Grand Prix

Antonelli’s debut was not as smooth sailing as the result suggests. The Mercedes dipped his rear right wheel onto the grass and spun at turn four in the early stages.

The 18-year-old avoided the barriers and got going again, but on another day, he could have easily destroyed his car. Bottas says Antonelli was ‘lucky’ with his spin but took nothing away from his ‘amazing achievement’ of climbing from P16 to P4.

“I think he did really well all weekend.,” said the Mercedes reserve driver via F1 Nation.

Of course there were some mistakes which is kind of expected as a rookie and especially Sunday which is very difficult conditions and is one of the most difficult tracks in the wet, as we saw.

“Even experienced drivers made mistakes. So, he had a spin, he got lucky with that.

“But that’s racing, sometimes it bites you and sometimes you get away with it and this time he got away with it and ended up with a great result starting pretty far back, ending up fifth [fourth] which is I think [an] amazing achievement for the first race.”

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How will Kimi Antonelli fare on his first Sprint race weekend in China?

Shanghai will present a new challenge for Antonelli given the smoother track surface and drier weather conditions. Furthermore, it marks the first Sprint race weekend of the season.

The Mercedes driver will have just one practice session to get used to the track characteristics. He will then be thrown straight into Sprint Qualifying, where he will have to be immediately on the pace.

If his performance in Melbourne is anything to go off, the 18-year-old should have little trouble adjusting. Martin Brundle was impressed by Antonelli’s spectacular maturity on his debut – he appeared relaxed on the grid unlike his fellow rookies.

Mercedes are level on points with McLaren in the constructors’ championship going into Shanghai with George Russell finishing third in Melbourne. The Silver Arrows will be hopeful of another strong weekend after displaying encouraging pace in the season opener.