Championship leader Kimi Antonelli faced an immediate reality check during the opening free practice session on the challenging Marina Bay street circuit in Singapore. Running the latest specification of the W17 chassis—distinct from teammate George Russell's setup—the young Italian could only manage the seventh-fastest lap time as he fought for grip on the demanding venue.
The hurdles persisted into the sprint qualifying session, where he once again found himself stalled outside the upper echelon, lining up in seventh place. The newly introduced aero update package meant the 20-year-old had his hands full trying to tame the machinery throughout the grueling 20-lap mini-race under the intense night lights.
Although he successfully brought the car home in fourth position to secure valuable championship points, Antonelli's verdict on the revised Mercedes challenger remained grounded. Earlier in the weekend, the Italian did not hide his initial frustration regarding the performance shortfall compared to his pre-weekend expectations.
He openly complained about the tricky nature of the machine, noting how unpredictable it felt on the limit. "Es ist schade, ich bin mit hohen Erwartungen angereist, aber diese wurden bisher nicht erfullt. Bereits im ersten Training hatte ich Muhe. Und das Auto ist sehr schwierig zu fahren, sehr unberechenbar. Es war schwierig, eine Runde zusammenzubekommen," he explained when describing the immense difficulty of putting a clean lap together during early practices.
Following strategic setup tweaks ahead of the sprint race, tone shifted toward a more encouraging outlook as data collection began to bear fruit. Antonelli noted that while the operational window for this specific development package remains remarkably narrow, the team successfully pinpointed several promising directions for improvement.
"Wir haben ein paar Sachen ausprobiert und das Auto fuhlte sich etwas besser an. Wir werden nun vor dem GP-Qualifying ein paar Anderungen vornehmen und ich hoffe, dass diese uns helfen werden. Das Arbeitsfenster dieses Pakets ist sehr eng, aber wir haben ein paar gute Dinge herausgefunden und ich glaube wirklich daran, dass diese Ausbaustufe Potenzial hat," he added, voicing firm belief in the underlying potential of the upgrade ahead of the main Grand Prix grid showdown.
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