Kimi Antonelli hints ‘cautious’ Mercedes cost him in the Belgian Grand Prix after ignoring his ‘early’ request

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Andrea Kimi Antonelli saw his disappointing run of results continue across the 2025 F1 Belgian Grand Prix weekend, as the Mercedes rookie failed to score a point once again.

The 18-year-old has now failed to improve on his 63 points for the term so far since he came third in Canada following three scoreless rounds. Antonelli’s debut F1 podium with P3 in the Canadian GP also marks his only points-paying finish over the last seven rounds since May.

Spa even staged the third of the six F1 Sprint events due to take place in the 2025 F1 season last Saturday. Yet Antonelli only managed P17 in the 15-lap dash from P19 on the grid, while securing P16 in the Belgian GP on Sunday after he started the 44-lap event from the pit lane.

Mercedes changed his engine as Antonelli qualified P18 for the Belgian GP for his second Q1 exit so far, so had to remove the Bologna boy’s car from the grid. The worst qualifying result of his rookie season seemingly took an emotional toll, too, as Antonelli seemed to be crying.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli hints Mercedes ignoring his request to pit cost him places in the Belgian GP

More might have been on the cards for Antonelli at Spa if Mercedes had not ignored his call to pit earlier for dry tyres after the delayed start to the Belgian GP, which ensured there was quickly no need for intermediate tyres as a dry racing line emerged within seven racing laps.

READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats

Ferrari racer Lewis Hamilton, the driver whom Antonelli replaced at Mercedes this year, was the first to stop for dry tyres on Lap 11. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso also pitted on L11/44, while Antonelli came in to pit on L12.

Antonelli thinks he could have potentially gained places like Hamilton by stopping sooner, as the Briton improved from P13 prior to pitting up to P10. The Italian remained in P18 after he stopped, and Antonelli feels Mercedes were ‘too cautious’ after his struggles at Silverstone.

He told RacingNews365: “I tried to call quite early the switch. But because of Silverstone, we were probably a bit too cautious on that. We wanted to wait a bit more, and I think that’s where we lost some positions, as well.”

Mercedes’ high-downforce rear wing also cost Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Spa

Mercedes dropped the ball with their strategy in the British GP after George Russell stopped on the formation lap to fit dry tyres, while Antonelli pitted on Lap 1. Silverstone was still too wet for the slick tyres, so staying out on the intermediates would have been the better play.

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But the gamble to pit early would have paid off in the Belgian GP as the track conditions had already improved before the first pit stops, unlike at Silverstone. It meant Antonelli returned to the track behind Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and struggled to overtake the Argentine easily.

By the time that Antonelli overtook Colapinto for P15 on Lap 20/44 with the help of DRS on the Kemmel Straight, Hamilton was up to P7 and chasing Alex Albon of Williams for P6. The teenage star was also 2.957 seconds behind Haas’ Oliver Bearman after passing Colapinto.

However, the time it took Antonelli to overtake Colapinto was not only thanks to Mercedes’ reluctance to pit early for slick tyres in the Belgian GP after their errors at the British GP. He also paid the price as Mercedes elected to fit a high-downforce rear wing on Antonelli’s car.

“Well, the car felt better with a bigger wing,” he added. “I felt much better in places where I was struggling a lot. It was just a shame because, obviously, with the delayed start, it turned out it was a dry race pretty quickly. We couldn’t really use the bigger wing because, despite being much quicker in the corners than in the straights, it was really hard to keep up.”