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Kimi Antonelli’s refusal to retire after an issue during the British Grand Prix had many within Mercedes concerned for his safety.
While Charles Leclerc winning the British Grand Prix was far from the ideal outcome for Mercedes, they had far bigger concerns towards the end of the race.
Despite him looking set to overtake Leclerc for first place, an unexplained issue with the car derailed Kimi Antonelli’s entire race.
What are your thoughts on the British Grand Prix ending behind the safety car?
Antonelli was told to pit the car twice to try and address the issue, but when that yielded no results, Peter Bonnington told the teenager to retire the car.
Instead, Kimi Antonelli told the team that he’d stay out to try and get the most out of the race. Even though they let him stay out, many within Mercedes were worried for his safety.
READ MORE: Martin Brundle highlights the one weakness Kimi Antonelli still has despite ‘incredible pace’
Damon Hill believes Mercedes should applaud ‘relentless’ Kimi Antonelli for his British GP performance
Speaking on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast, Damon Hill had high praise for Kimi Antonelli soldiering through and dragging the struggling Mercedes across the line despite an issue.
Hill added that there were many within Mercedes, including Toto Wolff, who were worried about his safety, while holding their breath and letting him stay out at his request.
“Yeah, he would have impressed the team with what he did there today. He could have easily have gone, ‘This is no good. I can’t, can’t use this. It’s broken,’ and come in.
“But he didn’t. He went, ‘No, I think I might maybe make this work…’ He was relentless in his fight back and his determination. He’ll get massive credit for that. There was a clip of the Mercedes people in Toto in the background there, and you can see what they were thinking.
“They were thinking he’s got a car that could have a mechanical failure. He doesn’t want to hurt himself, and we don’t want to put him at risk, so they’re having to make a judgment call. Quite a tricky situation for them.”
Even though Antonelli earned a controversial five-second penalty as a result of him staying out and trying to manage the car, he did garner a lot of praise for his relentless effort.
READ MORE: Jenson Button says there’s one thing about Kimi Antonelli he just can’t ‘understand’
How has the British Grand Prix changed your outlook on the F1 title race?
Damon Hill says everyone expected Mercedes to ‘crush’ Ferrari at British GP
Speaking elsewhere on the podcast, Hill acknowledged that Leclerc’s win was a surprising result given the presumed gulf between them and Mercedes, and how Mercedes were massive favourites heading into the weekend.
“Lewis did say he was surprised, didn’t he? And I think everyone was surprised, you know, that the whole issue of power deployment, the size of the turbo on the Ferrari. But then they’ve been getting these upgrades as well.
“So they have been pushing, and they also got the benefits of upgrades from the ADOU, and they’ve jumped on that. And Toto was saying, they must have known this was coming because they had them ready the moment they were granted them, they went on to the power unit.
“They’ve done very well to up their game. But even so, it was a surprise that they were competitive here. We thought very much that the Mercedes would really crush everyone here.”
While some might suggest Antonelli staying out was his wild side getting the best of him, it is remarkable to see such poise and fighting spirit from a driver as young as him.
For Mercedes as a whole, they will have to evaluate their performance compared to their rivals, and see what they need to improve.
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