Antonelli's Bahrain homework paid off in Jeddah: 'Had pace at the end '

19:15, 21 Apr

byNorberto Mujica

Mercedes youngster Andrea Kimi Antonelli speaks in retrospect about his -short- F1 experience and highlights key progression made from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, which saw him finish ahead of the driver he was brought in to replace, Lewis Hamilton.

Coming into F1 as a rookie is no picnic, thinks Antonelli. “It was a really good test mentally, physically, so happy that we got through well," said the young Italian to the media, including GPBlog, after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

"Now luckily I have a week off at home so I can gather all the information because it's good to have a triple header but every weekend is so many new information, new learnings that you struggle a little bit to gather everything together with such a little time.”

When asked regarding any form of potential growth, Antonelli highlighted implementing the lessons he learned in Bahrain for Jeddah, where he managed to finish ahead of the driver Mercedes brought him to replace, Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.

“I think Bahrain was a really good learning in terms of management because I really tried to use what I learnt in Bahrain even though the deg (tyre degradation, ed.), was not as big here, but still, it was there and it was good that [I] was able to manage and to actually have pace at the end.”

Antonelli looks to come back stronger for Miami Grand Prix

Between the race in Jeddah and the Miami Grand Prix, the second Sprint weekend of the season, the F1 circus will have a week off, which Antonelli will use diligently toward a single goal.

"Definitely, I will go a couple of days in the UK doing sim because Miami is going to be a new track and it's going to be a sprint weekend so definitely not easy. We'll try to prepare that weekend the best as possible.”

"This week I will have time to rest properly and think about these three weeks in order to be back stronger."