(Motorsport-Total.com) – A few laps before the end of the race, Kimi Antonelli had to retire from the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona-Catalunya due to technical problems. Shortly before, the championship leader had overtaken his teammate George Russell in a direct duel on the track.
Read more Formula 1 Live Ticker: The race in Barcelona live!
“The car just left me,” said the 19-year-old into the microphone of Sky Germany. “It gave up, but that’s racing. That happens, [but] it’s annoying, of course.”
Nevertheless, Antonelli emphasizes: “The race was very strong today. The pace was good, especially on the hard tires, which is a good thing. Now it hurts, of course, but I’m already looking forward to Austria.”
According to the Mercedes driver, the problem had not announced itself beforehand. Furthermore, Antonelli had slightly damaged his front wing due to the high kerbs on the Barcelona track. “I lost a bit of downforce because of that, but it didn’t affect my car too much,” said the championship leader.
Antonelli cannot answer why exactly the Mercedes stopped working. “Most problems [so far] have had to do with the battery,” Antonelli explains.
“But they were always different defects, so it wasn’t always the same one. So we have to understand what that was. But the symptom is clear, just like with George in Montreal, when the car just stopped. We will dig very deep to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
On Sky UK, Toto Wolff emphasizes that in a world championship, you actually cannot afford to lose a car out of the points “every second race”. After all, Russell had to retire from the Canadian Grand Prix due to technical problems.
Elsewhere, the 54-year-old puts it this way: “We cannot afford to have two cars retire regularly. We lost 25 points in the Constructors’ Championship in Montreal and another 18 today. To win, you first have to finish.”
“Therefore, we have to work on our reliability, that is our priority. Nobody is happy about this, and we will leave no stone unturned to understand it.”
Read more Formula 1 live ticker: The race in Barcelona live!
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When asked by Sky whether Antonelli’s retirement was due to the duel between the two Silver Arrows, Wolff replies: “No, no, not at all. George and Kimi simply drove hard against each other and we lost time on the track there. We have to discuss that with both of them for the future.”
Through the duel, Lewis Hamilton managed to catch up with the two Mercedes drivers in his Ferrari. A three-stop strategy and a lucky VSC brought the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time his 106th Grand Prix victory.
On Sky Germany, Wolff accordingly emphasizes that “Kimi could have won,” according to his assessment. However, the theoretical speed of the championship leader would not have changed anything about the technical problems.
At times, a time penalty for Antonelli due to track limits was a possibility. Turn ten, in particular, was often a problem for the 19-year-old on race Sunday. “My wheels often locked up in the first stint,” Antonelli said into the Sky microphone. “And I made too many mistakes in turn ten.”
“I was too risky there, even though Bono reminded me every lap. But yes, I just pushed.”
With the high tire wear, it was anything but easy to follow the competition at the rear, Antonelli explains. “After I overtook George, the car really came to life. But then I couldn’t use the pace anymore because the car broke down.”
Nevertheless, Antonelli admits: “I think it would have been impossible to catch Lewis, because he was too far away. So it would have been P2, but that hurts. I’m still happy for him that he was able to get his first win for Ferrari.”
After his third pit stop, Hamilton was ahead of both Mercedes drivers due to the VSC and was able to build a lead of over ten seconds on fresher tires. Antonelli was still behind Russell in third position at that point.
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