Antonelli and the nightmare of the European GPs: “Spa was my darkest moment”

Start with applause In the first six races of the last championship, all held outside of Europe, Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s debut in Formula 1 seemed decidedly convincing: in addition to a total of 48 points scored, with the podium immediately missed in Australia, the Mercedes driver from Bologna had even recorded the best time in the Sprint qualifying in Miami, with the doubts about Toto Wolff’s choice to focus on a very young talent coming from Formula 3 vanished for many fans. The European collapse Question marks which, however, quickly returned on the occasion of the seasonal debut in Europe. With the exception of the Hungarian GP, ​​where he still achieved 10th place, Antonelli did not finish any race in the top ten, despite the great satisfaction of the first podium of his career in Canada. For the rest, however, the 18-year-old finished four races early, not going higher than sixteenth in Belgium and Holland. A period of strong crisis that the #12 recalled by telling the media about the most complex moment: “Since we fitted the new suspension I’ve struggled a lot, especially in adapting – he explained – despite the loss of performance, Russell managed to adapt, while I struggled much more. I entered a negative spiral in which it seemed to me that things were getting worse and worse, and frustration took over. I think my darkest moment was probably in Spa. I doubted myself a lot, because obviously, seeing that the results weren’t coming, you start to wonder if you’re good enough. So it wasn’t easy, but that’s why I had a big meeting with the team after Monza. I did a big mental reset and tried to focus on the important things, on the process, and that helped me a lot.