Formula 1 had another pole position from Kimi Antonelli, and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed an important detail that helped the young driver achieve this result in Suzuka. According to Wolff, a simple radio instruction was decisive for the lap that secured the pole position.
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The young Italian arrived at the Japanese GP buoyed by his performance in Shanghai, where he secured his first pole and also his first victory in Formula 1. In Suzuka, the Italian maintained his momentum and comfortably outperformed his teammate, George Russell, opening up a gap of nearly three-tenths and securing his second consecutive pole.
Wolff highlighted the young driver’s calm demeanor as one of the fundamental factors for the performance: “When you hear the radio communications, he is always calm. He doesn’t put too much pressure on himself and manages to put together that lap that is very good,” the executive told Sky Sports.
The Mercedes boss also revealed an important message from engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington during the qualifying session: “Bono told him to ‘put in a banker lap’. Then he pushed a bit more on the last attempt and it wasn’t as good. But it’s very good to see that,” Wolff added, praising the driver’s maturity.
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While Antonelli shone, Russell faced difficulties in the other Mercedes car. Wolff explained that a setup change had a greater impact than expected, compromising the Briton’s performance during the session: “We made a setup change on the other side. Something we expected to have less impact than it did, but it left the car with too much front end, with excessive oversteer, which made everything very difficult for George,” the executive explained.
Asked about the possibility of this setup helping in the race, Wolff did not show optimism: “Probably the opposite. He needs to carry that into the race now, which is certainly a disadvantage, but these things happen,” the Mercedes boss concluded.
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