Kimi Antonelli Faces Challenges with Mercedes Upgrades in Singapore

Mercedes is undertaking a notable experiment in Singapore, with Kimi Antonelli testing new upgrades while George Russell sticks with a tried-and-true setup. Antonelli managed a seventh-place start for Saturday's sprint, but it wasn't without difficulty.

The weekend plan was for Antonelli to use the new parts throughout, but a decision after FP1 saw him revert to an older front wing. In the initial session, Antonelli lagged behind Russell by 1.251 seconds, though he closed the gap to about 0.6 seconds during sprint qualifying.

Reflecting on the struggle, Antonelli remarked, "To be fair, already FP1, I was struggling, and there is still a lot to understand about this package. The car is very difficult, very unpredictable, and it’s very difficult to put a lap together. So, yeah, it’s a shame because I was coming with high hopes, but so far it’s been very difficult."

Despite holding an 84-point lead over Russell in the Drivers’ Championship, Antonelli anticipates a challenging weekend. Russell is set to serve a grid penalty, which could influence the overall points haul. Antonelli, however, remains cautiously optimistic, stating, "I think it’s going to be a difficult weekend unless we can pull something out tomorrow. But other than that, it’s going to be very tricky. I don’t really see, you know, where we can find seven tenths. But you never know. Maybe tonight, Bono and the engineers are going to find something in the car. For sure, I’m going to try to improve a little bit the driving, and then let’s see. We’ll see tomorrow where we end up."