Mercedes: Kimi Antonelli F1 struggles an “engineering problem” but fix list “quite small”

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has insisted that rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s recent performance struggles are due to an “engineering problem” and not a reflection of his ability as a driver.

After a strong start to his debut Formula 1 season with a fourth-place finish in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, his first sprint race pole position in Miami, and his first F1 podium in Canada, Antonelli has not scored points in the last three grands prix. 

“Not specific things that we’re doing in that regard, other than Bono’s engineering, that car knows that if we can give him a stable car, his performance will improve,” Shovlin explained to the media when asked by Motorsport.com what they can do to help Antonelli’s confidence in the car.

“The reality is both drivers have slipped backwards, but George has all his years in Formula 1 to fall back on and that’s been helping him in qualifying.
 
“Kimi doesn’t have that database of knowledge and how to drive around problems. It’s probably hurt him a bit more, but it’s an engineering problem. If we can solve that, it will certainly boost Kimi’s confidence in himself.”

The Mercedes director also confirmed that, beyond the suspension change that has been introduced, the “list is quite small” of other changes they could make to help the Italian driver.

“Good question, because we feel that there is a good chance that this will take the car in a better direction.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

“If it doesn’t, we need to look at what else is on the table that may have changed between now and the early races. Honestly, that list is quite small by then, but as with anything, you use the race weekend very much as a forum to experiment and understand.
 
“We’re hoping that the conclusion is that this recovers it. If it isn’t, we’ve got more work ahead of us and we’ll have to get stuck into that.”

Russell has also seen a dip in performance in the W16 following his race win in Canada. The British driver confirmed following his fifth-place finish in Belgium that he was set to have a “big meeting” with the team ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. 

“Yeah, it was pretty underwhelming, to be honest,” he explained to Sky Sports F1 at the time. “Because we tend to favour the cooler conditions. So we couldn’t have really asked for better weather for us. But we’ve just had no pace recently. We need to sit down, all of us.
 
“We’re going to have a big meeting this week with all the designers and engineers. To sort of understand the decisions we’ve made in recent weeks or months. And why we’ve gone backwards. So hoping for some improvements in Hungary.”

Photos from Hungarian GP – Practice