Antonelli embraces Bottas' mentorship: 'I'm just a young fella coming into F1'

Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes' F1 rookie, has revealed how big of a help Valtteri Bottas has been to him, in the Finn's role of reserve driver for the German team.

"Well, of course I'm never not going to listen to any advice that he gives me because obviously, first of all, I'm just a young fella coming into the world of F1 and I've got so much more to learn and he has a lot of experience so there's no reason why I wouldn't listen to any of his advices," says a very mature Italian youngster about the mentorship role Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas has taken on with Antonelli.

"Of course I try to embrace it and trying to to put it on track as well what I learned. The Italian's verdict? "It's been extremely helpful and that's why I'm always really open to any advice he gives me because as I said, [in] Suzuka [Bottas] was a massive help and together with him I was able to turn around massively the weekend."

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Antonellis' pace was so strong in Suzuka that in the final stages of the race, after having gone on an alternate strategy, he came within mere seconds of attacking teammate George Russell for P5. "[I'm] definitely really happy to have someone like him and really open to embracing any of his advices."

What exactly has Bottas helped him with? Mainly with the tyres, Antonelli clarified during media day, before elaborating further. "So mainly it's all about not really not much driving but it's all about these little details that can make the difference on track."

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