Montoya: “It is said that Mercedes had a new suspension, I wonder if the team is complying with Antonelli’s requests”

Updates for Kimi? Andrea Kimi Antonelli will enjoy an unexpected break as leader of the World Championship, a scenario perhaps even more unpredictable for the Mercedes driver after George Russell dominated the Melbourne weekend in Australia. In China and Japan, however, Antonelli achieved the first two victories of his F1 career, a double that put him at the top of the Drivers’ Championship with a nine-point advantage over his teammate. Juan Pablo Montoya underlined that at the moment Antonelli seems to have a clear advantage over Russell when the hard compound tires are fitted: “In China, I think Antonelli was very lucky, but he did a great job, in Japan, with or without a safety car, he would have won that race – the words of Montoya reached by Casinostugan – Antonelli was much more comfortable in the car with the harder tires than George. With the softer tyres, the car is more forgiving. Once you put the harder tires on, the car becomes more on the limit and a little more difficult to drive. And I think that’s where George struggles.” Montoya also put forward the hypothesis that Mercedes had brought something new to Japan that was perhaps better digested by Antonelli than Russell: “It was said that Mercedes had a new rear suspension or something different at the rear of the car – added Montoya – what I wonder is: is it an update that goes towards Kimi’s driving style? Is Mercedes satisfying his every request? In this sport you can never please all the drivers”.