Kimi Antonelli believes that both he and George Russell were affected by Mercedes’ reliability issues this Formula 1 season. However, the Italian highlighted that his retirements happened precisely when he was heading for great results, making the losses even more painful.
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Mercedes showed good performance throughout the championship but faced several mechanical failures. Russell retired while leading the Canadian GP, while Antonelli dropped out in the Spanish and British GPs, races in which he was fighting for top positions.
During the Belgian GP press conference, the 19-year-old acknowledged that his teammate also had moments of bad luck. “It’s very difficult to make this comparison because, yes, George also had bad luck. Montreal was one of those cases. Of course, we don’t know how the race would have ended because we were very close. It was very unlucky because at that moment he was leading the race and had to retire. After that, there were also other occasions when he was unlucky,” he said.
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“In my case, we were heading for a result that was practically certain. In Barcelona it was a second place, in Silverstone we can’t know exactly because I didn’t have that chance, but I believe I would have been fighting for the win. So, certainly, those were guaranteed points. I have to say that we both had bad luck,” he said.
Antonelli also admitted that reliability issues have hurt Mercedes in the constructors’ championship battle. “As a team, reliability definitely hasn’t been our strongest point. We ourselves realize it’s something we need to keep working on. If we add up the points that George and I lost, it’s a very big impact on the constructors’ standings. But as drivers, we can only do our best and take advantage of every opportunity we have,” he concluded.
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