Mercedes insists it must 'own a bit of responsibility' for a
failure which hampered Kimi Antonelli's preparation for the Dutch
GP. Early during FP1 on F1's return from the summer break,
Antonelli beached the W16, losing the session on a scrappy weekend
in which he picked up two penalties and also two penalty points
after crashing into Charles Leclerc. The Italian protege endured a
tricky run of form throughout the European season, culminating in
boss Toto Wolff declaring his performance at Monza was
"underwhelming", although Antonelli bounced back with a strong
fourth on both the grid and in the race in the Azerbaijan GP last
time out. Analysing Antonelli's form, trackside engineering
director Andrew Shovlin has revealed how problems with the
simulator hampered Antonelli's Zandvoort build-up. "With
Zandvoort, he came in for a simulator session, and we had some
issues," Shovlin told media, including RacingNews365. "That meant
he wasn't able to prep there, and then he made a mistake in FP1,
and I think we need to own a bit of that responsibility, as we
couldn't do the normal prep. "He's shown enough in the early part
of the season to confirm our expectations that he has the talent to
be in F1 and be with Mercedes. "But there is no doubt that after a
string of poor performances and not scoring [points] at the rate
George is, the pressure builds, and we've just got to help him
manage that pressure. "We've done a lot of development driving, and
we've upped the amount of preparation which we are doing recently.
"We're trying different things in terms of getting ready for race
weekends going into these remaining races, and we'll just keep
reviewing until we get it right. "He will develop with every race
which he does, and often with young drivers, you'll see big steps
going into their second year when they are going to tracks for the
second time. "Some of these tracks, he's either never driven them
or he's driven them in an F2 or F4 car, and you're up against
people with years and years of experience in F1, so it is always
challenging for rookie drivers. "But as I said, we will just keep
reviewing our processes and modifying them, and we will get there."
failure which hampered Kimi Antonelli's preparation for the Dutch
GP. Early during FP1 on F1's return from the summer break,
Antonelli beached the W16, losing the session on a scrappy weekend
in which he picked up two penalties and also two penalty points
after crashing into Charles Leclerc. The Italian protege endured a
tricky run of form throughout the European season, culminating in
boss Toto Wolff declaring his performance at Monza was
"underwhelming", although Antonelli bounced back with a strong
fourth on both the grid and in the race in the Azerbaijan GP last
time out. Analysing Antonelli's form, trackside engineering
director Andrew Shovlin has revealed how problems with the
simulator hampered Antonelli's Zandvoort build-up. "With
Zandvoort, he came in for a simulator session, and we had some
issues," Shovlin told media, including RacingNews365. "That meant
he wasn't able to prep there, and then he made a mistake in FP1,
and I think we need to own a bit of that responsibility, as we
couldn't do the normal prep. "He's shown enough in the early part
of the season to confirm our expectations that he has the talent to
be in F1 and be with Mercedes. "But there is no doubt that after a
string of poor performances and not scoring [points] at the rate
George is, the pressure builds, and we've just got to help him
manage that pressure. "We've done a lot of development driving, and
we've upped the amount of preparation which we are doing recently.
"We're trying different things in terms of getting ready for race
weekends going into these remaining races, and we'll just keep
reviewing until we get it right. "He will develop with every race
which he does, and often with young drivers, you'll see big steps
going into their second year when they are going to tracks for the
second time. "Some of these tracks, he's either never driven them
or he's driven them in an F2 or F4 car, and you're up against
people with years and years of experience in F1, so it is always
challenging for rookie drivers. "But as I said, we will just keep
reviewing our processes and modifying them, and we will get there."
The post Mercedes 'take responsibility' for unusual Kimi Antonelli failure appeared first on RacingNews365.