Kimi Antonelli is now realising that Lewis Hamilton was right all along about Mercedes’ biggest problem

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Kimi Antonelli made a promising start to his first Formula 1 season with Mercedes. He was edging out of the shadow of Lewis Hamilton.

Antonelli produced a stellar comeback on his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, charging from 16th place to fourth in conditions that caught out some of the grid’s most experienced drivers. While he wasn’t getting particularly close to George Russell, he commendably added three more top-six finishes in the next four races.

In perhaps his best moment so far, he then grabbed a shock Sprint pole at the Miami GP, becoming the youngest driver to set the pace in a qualifying session. A maiden Grand Prix podium followed around six weeks later in Canada.

Car failures had seen Antonelli lose touch with the established superstars in the championship by then. And then he started to make mistakes himself.

Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton used the same word to describe the Mercedes – ‘unpredictable’

Since the Montreal podium, Antonelli’s average starting position is 15th. The low point was Spa, when he began both the Sprint and the Sunday race on the back row.

Antonelli went three races without scoring at all, though he did gain some solace just before the summer break as he came home P10 in Hungary. Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, he explained why his results had dropped off.

The 18-year-old lost his feeling with the Mercedes W16, and reported the same issues that plagued his predecessor in the ground-effect era. Above all, their cars are ‘unpredictable’ – and Hamilton said at the 2024 Miami GP that this had been the case for ‘the last few years’ (via RacingNews365).

With the car on a ‘knife-edge’, in the words of the seven-time world champion, it’s difficult for the driver to have any confidence. Antonelli feels he must alter his driving style to adapt.

“When turning on the brakes in fast corners, the rear end became unstable, and it was difficult to feel whether the grip was losing or not,” he said. “My aggressive driving style had exacerbated this problem.

“The car became even more unpredictable. But I also have to take responsibility for this and should have adjusted my driving style better.”

Ralf Schumacher’s cold verdict on Kimi Antonelli’s first half-season in F1

There’s a school of thought that Mercedes should have placed Antonelli at Williams, as they did with George Russell. Their engine deal would have granted them a degree of leverage, but it’s still unclear whether James Vowles would have objected.

Perhaps that’s a distraction, though. Mercedes looked like they’d made a meaningful step forward at the start of the year, and there were few questions about Antonelli’s readiness.

Now that familiar problems have resurfaced, the Italian has rather lost his way. But last year demonstrated that this can happen to any driver, even the most successful ever.

Ralf Schumacher says Antonelli has shown he’s far from ‘the next Max Verstappen’, as he was billed in some quarters. That may be the case, but an impending contract extension shows that Mercedes are being sensibly patient.