Watch out for the clutch release
If Friday night’s sprint qualifying once again certified the talent and speed of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the start of the 100 km race confirms the difficulties at the start that have been penalizing the young Italian driver’s performance since the beginning of the year. Starting (badly) from the second spot on the grid, the 19-year-old actually slipped with the rear wheels, dropping to fifth place behind teammate George Russell after turn 1, although he managed to recover fourth place in the following meters. A new mistake that risks becoming a case and marking the rest of the season, especially considering how much Antonelli had worked on the simulator and in the factory to improve the clutch release.
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Too many errors with track limits
However, it is not only a matter of starts, but also – inevitably – of reaction to difficulties: by his own admission, the Italian driver from Mercedes got too nervous because of the error at the start and this led him to make too many mistakes even in the 19 laps of the Sprint Race. The result? Four track limit violations that forced the FIA Race Direction to impose a five-second penalty to be added to the final race time. And this is how Kimi Antonelli slipped from fourth to sixth place overall, “giving” two points to his teammate (and first “enemy” in the internal Mercedes box battle), Russell.
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Kimi Antonelli’s comment
“What happened at the start – explains Antonelli, interviewed by Mara Sangiorgio for Sky Sport F1 at the end of the Miami GP Sprint Race – is a real shame, because in terms of procedures I had done everything right for once. So it was a shame to lose even more positions, because this compromised the race, once again. A real shame, really. Then, after the start, I was very angry in the car and made too many mistakes.” “Now I will focus on qualifying to do a better job and try to get the best possible result,” concluded Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
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