Antonelli “votes” Ferrari
Kimi Antonelli went on vacation with the calm of the leader and a 50-point cushion over Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. After three weeks of relaxation, it’s time to think about the track again: the calendar offers the challenge of Zandvoort, where Mercedes even risks not being the favorite. The Brackley team is still running with the Canada package, while rivals have long pressed the accelerator on developments: in Hungary McLaren brought the first part of a very promising package, which gave immediate feedback; Ferrari will innovate both the floor and the engine between the Netherlands and Monza.
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Looking ahead to Zandvoort, Antonelli focuses precisely on Ferrari and McLaren, indicating the Scuderia as the main antagonist of Mercedes in the second half of the championship. This weekend, however, the odds favor the papaya, also in light of the successes in 2024 and 2025.
Antonelli’s words on Ferrari and McLaren
“The other teams bring updates, in the end we haven’t brought a package in terms of performance since Canada, so our car has been stuck for a while. It’s normal that teams, bringing novelties, get closer and on certain tracks go faster,” commented the Bolognese. “We expect McLaren and Ferrari to be very fast. And then obviously there’s Verstappen, he will surely be up front too: I think it will be tight with all the top 4, we’ll see if possible rain mixes things up. I think the favorite is McLaren, which has always been strong here, ahead of Ferrari.”
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“Honestly I think Ferrari will be the main rival in the second half of the season,” Antonelli added. “Here it has a new floor and will also have the engine with the ADUO in Monza. It will be interesting to see how much it gains and if it reduces the winglet behind the exhaust, which gives you downforce in the corner but takes away power. McLaren will still be very strong: we’ll see how many updates they manage to bring, I think this is the last big package.”
Mercedes’ response to rivals’ updates will probably come at the beginning of October. The initial plan was to introduce them in Singapore, but the insertion of Sepang created a debate within the team and the possibility arose to bring forward the developments by a week.
Read more Mercedes: major updates could arrive earlier than expected
