Young Italian driver Kimi Antonelli has completed his first official pre-season test as a Mercedes Formula 1 driver ahead of his highly anticipated debut at the Australian Grand Prix.
The 18-year-old, who has risen rapidly through the junior ranks, described the test as a “positive” experience overall, despite some disruptions along the way.
A smooth start with some hiccups
Antonelli was pleased with how his initial F1 testing experience unfolded, stating that everything with the car ran smoothly.
“Yes, I mean, I think it was a pretty positive test. Everything went well with the car. Only this morning we had a slight issue with the car, and I missed an hour of driving, which of course was not ideal. But overall it went pretty smooth.”
While his long-run pace was solid and consistent, Antonelli acknowledged that he still has work to do in fully understanding the car and, more importantly, the tyres.
“I think I still need to understand a little bit more about the car and especially about the tyres as well. Especially in the quali lap, the window where they work is pretty hard to get right.”
Despite missing out on a fully completed qualifying simulation due to weather and mechanical issues, he remained optimistic.
“I’ve been doing a lot of long runs as well and single lap, yeah, couldn’t do a proper session. Because yesterday of the weather, and today with the issue, I had to interrupt.”
Antonelli sets his focus on race preparation
With a mix of dry and disrupted sessions, Antonelli’s testing programme leaned heavily towards long-run data collection.
“For the long run, I got quite a decent understanding because I’ve been doing a lot of long runs and been experiencing different types of approaches. Also, you know, how to introduce the tyre into the run.”
However, his planned qualifying simulation was affected by unpredictable weather on the second day, and when he attempted one on the final day, the earlier car issue interrupted his programme.
“While qualifying, there’s still some work to do. Mainly because yesterday I was meant to do a quali sim, and then because of the weather, I only put one set. And then today, I had an issue with the car, so that interrupted the programme.”
He also touched on the challenge of tyre management, something that even seasoned drivers often struggle with.
“We’ve been trying a lot of different approaches with tyres, also different kinds of outlaps, in order to see how the tyres react. I think today was also a bit different because the weather was quite a bit different. The track was a chunk hotter compared to yesterday, so tyres were behaving differently. So, definitely, it was a good learning.”
Despite these setbacks, Antonelli remains positive about his progress.
“Even though we lost an hour of track time, I mean, the team also did a great job because the issue was quite big. And, yeah, I think it was still a good learning experience.”
Looking ahead to Melbourne
Antonelli now faces the challenge of stepping into a race weekend for the first time in Formula 1 with limited preparation.
“It feels weird that now the next one is going to be Melbourne Race 1,” he admitted.
With his natural talent and methodical approach, Antonelli is expected to adapt quickly. Though, he still acknowledges there’s work to do. While the test may not have been perfect, it gave him a crucial first taste of what to expect. He’ll be looking to apply those lessons when he hits the track for the opening round of the season.
