Kimi Antonelli felt that he maximised his opportunities in the “tough” Hungarian Grand Prix to claim the final spot on the podium, allowing him to increase his lead in the Drivers’ Championship.
In a wholly challenging weekend for Mercedes, the Italian wasn’t able to seriously challenge McLaren and Ferrari for pole position and finished P4 in Qualifying, but was demoted to P7 after the stewards handed him a grid drop for a yellow flag infringement.
While it was a stark change from the front-row starts he had come to enjoy, Antonelli risked a different strategy and gained positions as his rivals pitted. He couldn’t match the pace of McLaren and eventually had to complete a second stop after his team decided his tyres wouldn’t last until the end.
He then came back into podium contention when other teams risked a stop under Virtual Safety Car conditions, allowing him to improve to P3 and cling on ahead of Lewis Hamilton, whose challenge was neutralised by a time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
“It was a tough race,” Antonelli explained. “It was really hard to overtake, so we had to do something with strategy. Initially we tried to go for the one-stop, but then [the team] told me that the tyre was too much on the limit, so we stopped.
“Then we had a Virtual Safety Car and the two Ferraris boxed. I knew it would have been very hard because I was on hards, they were on softs. Luckily we managed to keep them behind.”
With a few weeks off before the second part of the season, Mercedes may be concerned by the way they fell behind their competitors at the Hungaroring, especially as George Russell could only manage P7 following a setback caused by anti-stall on the opening lap – though that was a decent recovery effort.
However, Antonelli was left satisfied with the result as he outscored both Russell and Hamilton, opening up his advantage in the standings to 50 points over the lead Ferrari, with Russell a further nine points adrift.
“No, not really,” said Antonelli, when asked whether he could’ve imagined being in such a strong position. “Of course I’m very happy – it’s the best way to go into the summer break.
“I think today was big damage limitation and we’ve got to keep pushing because the second half is going to be hard. We’ll try our best.”
