Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been promoted again to fourth on his Method 1 debut within the Australian Grand Prix after Mercedes efficiently appealed a five-second penalty for an unsafe launch.
Antonelli had initially been relegated to fifth on account of the penalty, however upon a assessment and examination of the roll-hoop digital camera footage, the Italian was discovered to not have impeded Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber.
It ensured Antonelli’s weekend ended on a excessive after he had blundered in qualifying at Albert Park and spun within the opening stint of the race. However the positives far outweighed any negatives throughout a race weekend the place even a double world champion smote the obstacles.
“Some excellent drivers spun or hit the wall, it was simpler to not end than end,” Mercedes workforce boss Toto Wolff instructed Sky Sports activities F1. “He stored his cool and it was very spectacular to see. It reveals he has future as long as the trajectory carries on as it’s.”
Antonelli’s error in qualifying, which left him sixteenth on the grid, is a query of diploma: he wasn’t as far over the Flip 6 kerb as many different drivers, however the mixture of strike angle and the presence of gravel deposited by different vehicles taking greater liberties broken his W16’s ground. Beginning to this point again would have been a considerable problem even when the climate had been beneficial on Sunday.
Because it was, Antonelli was going through solely his second expertise of driving an F1 automotive within the moist, the primary having been a short tour within the 2021 Mercedes on the Purple Bull Ring final April, the place snow introduced the day to an early conclusion. So this was his first time in a ground-effect F1 automotive and on current-generation intermediate tyres.
The educational curve was made all of the steeper by the early deployment of the security automotive after Jack Doohan’s spin: the slower tempo meant tyre temperatures plummeted.
“It was tremendous troublesome at first,” mentioned Antonelli. “And behind the security automotive the tyres have been cooling down massively. The grip was nowhere.
“And likewise with all these white traces, it’s tremendous, tremendous difficult as a result of, as quickly as you go over them, even in high-speed corners, you lose the grip unexpectedly.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Picture by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Pictures
Having handed Hulkenberg for twelfth on lap 15, Antonelli then spun and needed to do all of it once more.
“I used to be fortunate to spin in a spot the place it was protected,” he mentioned.
“After I had the error, it sort of harm my confidence somewhat bit. The workforce did nice to calm me down and get me again into the rhythm, and made all the fitting calls.”
Antonelli then frequently made progress up the order as others crashed out or made incorrect technique calls amid the ever-changing circumstances, earlier than the rookie then nailed Alex Albon for fourth throughout the ultimate six-lap dash to the flag after the final safety-car interval.
With the chequered flag nearly nearby, although, the workforce was notified that Antonelli could be given a five-second time penalty for being launched into the trail of Hulkenberg within the pitlane. It didn’t move on this message to its driver, however as an alternative instructed him to maintain on pushing to construct a niche.
“You possibly can solely shake your head,” mentioned Wolff. “It got here up [on the screen] as an incident, no one noticed it – it wasn’t performed [on the TV feed] – after which 90 seconds later there was a penalty.”
When the five-second penalty was utilized it dropped Antonelli from fourth to fifth, behind Albon once more, however the workforce swiftly filed a petition for a ‘proper of assessment’ with the stewards.
The essential bar that should be met in these circumstances is the presence of “vital and related” new proof “which was unavailable to the get together searching for the assessment on the time of the choice involved”.
Along with the roll hoop footage, the stewards additionally examined helicopter footage and concluded that Antonelli didn’t cross into the ‘quick lane’ instantly, and checked in his mirror earlier than doing so. The in-car footage confirmed there was no danger to mechanics standing additional down the pitlane. Based mostly on these new parts, the stewards reversed their choice, restoring Antonelli to fourth place.
“I discovered so many issues,” concluded Antonelli. “Clearly it was disappointing yesterday, and possibly might have been a distinct race, however you by no means know.
“It was good to expertise what occurs on the again, however clearly we don’t wish to begin that far [back] anymore. It was difficult, and particularly on the slick tyre it was fairly scary, however I’m actually pleased with the way it went.”
Pictures from Australian GP – Race
On this article
Stuart Codling
Method 1
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
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