‘I have a fire inside me’ – Antonelli admits taking ‘biggest lessons’ from last two weekends

Kimi Antonelli has admitted to taking the “biggest lessons” from his last two race weekends after experiencing issues in both, with the Italian stating that this has left him with a “fire inside” ahead of the British Grand Prix.

A technical issue on his Mercedes saw Antonelli record his first DNF of the season in Barcelona, while a mistake in Qualifying at the next round in Austria cost the youngster a potential spot on the front row of the grid, leaving him with extra work to do on Sunday from P4.

Antonelli’s recovery drive saw him nearly catch Max Verstappen for P2 on race day, but a victory for team mate George Russell – who has returned to second place in the Drivers’ Championship – means that the 19-year-old’s lead is now down to 40 points.

Despite those setbacks, Antonelli is confident that the momentum remains with him arriving into Silverstone.

“I have a big fire inside me because I think the last two races obviously didn't go well, considering the pace we had,” he explained during Thursday’s media day. “I think in Barcelona, the race was going well but obviously we had the issue which was unfortunate.

“In Austria I felt very good in the car, but in Qualifying I relaxed a little bit too much during the session and just didn't extract the best out of the car, the tyres. And then obviously there was the thing with the yellow flag, which George managed well – he did what he had to do.

“My side, I just didn't do a good enough job, also the timing was not the best for me because I was just entering the corner. Then in Austria I think I lost the race in the first stint with the first laps going off.

“I struggled with the brakes and lost a lot of time, so I feel like obviously without that it would have given me a better chance to fight for the victory, or at least for P2. For sure it's been, let's not say a difficult couple of races because still we were up there, but definitely looking forward to this weekend to put things more together and maximise better the result.”

Antonelli went on to explain the learnings he has taken from those recent events, adding: “Definitely one of the biggest lessons is that you have to be ready for anything and be ready to take every opportunity, and [that you] always have to maximise every session because you never know what can happen.

“It can happen that you have bad weekends where you just don't feel great in the car, so the biggest lesson was never let your guard down and just always stay hungry and always try to maximise everything.

“Of course, I feel there's a big fire inside me ahead of this weekend, but of course still remembering to focus on the procedure, on what I have to do, and trying to drive as fast as I can.”

In terms of his prospects for the British Grand Prix, Antonelli believes that the W17 will perform well – but also acknowledged the threat posed by the Silver Arrows’ rivals on a weekend where the Sprint will make its fourth appearance of the season.

“I’m very excited. I think it's one of the best weekends of the season and one of the best tracks and crowds, so I’m really looking forward to it,” the championship leader said.

“Hopefully it's going to be a good weekend – the car is very strong, but of course we expect Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari to be up there as well. I’m really looking forward to it and also it’s a Sprint weekend, so it’s going to be a good challenge.”