Antonelli’s F1 Debut: A Challenging Day in Jeddah

Andrea Kimi Antonelli embraces the challenge of Jeddah’s high-speed corners, confident that his first F1 outing will improve.

George Russell battles traffic and tire issues, but hopes Mercedes can bounce back stronger for qualifying after McLaren‘s dominant performance.

Russell believes McLaren F1 “seems to have the edge” as the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix gets underway. The British driver appeared to be the main rival to McLaren after the opening day of practice, staying close to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri throughout both sessions. However, despite his strong performance, Russell didn’t feel entirely positive about the day’s results.

“It’s been a bit of a chaotic day on our side,” he said. “We couldn’t get many clean laps due to traffic and some attempts where we didn’t manage the tires properly. We tried different setups on both cars, which was a valuable learning experience for Kimi and me. I think we’ve found the direction we need to take.”

Russell went on to explain that the team was probably stronger during the first practice session than in the second one. “We didn’t make the progress we hoped for with the car, but I believe there’s nothing we can’t improve on tonight to come back stronger for tomorrow’s qualifying.”

He also acknowledged the challenges of gathering sufficient data due to the red flag during the second session. “It’s a shame we couldn’t collect more long-run data, but everyone is in the same boat. McLaren definitely seemed to have the advantage, but I’m hopeful we can fight for the win as the weekend progresses.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, further down the order, faced a more difficult day in his first Formula 1 outing on the challenging Jeddah circuit. His priority was to avoid mistakes while gaining confidence on track.

“It’s been a challenging day for me. It was tough to string together a lot of clean laps, but I’m happy with what we accomplished. We focused on the details, and I gained more confidence on track. This is a circuit that demands a lot of trust at high speed, and you need to get really close to the walls. Overall, it was positive, though I did get a bit too close to the wall at the exit of the final corner on my last lap with soft tires in FP2.”

Antonelli is looking forward to the rest of the weekend, aware that the competition will be tight, with many of their rivals close behind McLaren. “We don’t know everyone’s fuel loads or engine modes, so we need to focus on ourselves. We’ll work hard to analyze the data tonight and hope to come back stronger tomorrow.”

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Antonelli’s F1 Debut: A Challenging Day in Jeddah Antonelli’s F1 Debut: A Challenging Day in Jeddah