Build up to the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps is now well under way with the first practice set to take place at just gone midday on July 17, so for now there is still plenty of news and headlines for racing fans to pour over from the British Silverstone event earlier this month.
With Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc coming out on top to take maximum points from the race, with Mercedes driver George Russell in second, and Ferrari team mate Lewis Hamilton in third, one of the main stories to come out of the race and put the current World Cup football live scores on the backburner, was the semi spectacular way in which the joint record seven time F1 World Champions colleague limped out of contention.
Fellow Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli had already recovered from a very poor start to the British GP race and had begun closing in on Leclerc and at one point did look like the favourite to take the victory as we entered the closing stages in the eyes of many – but then it all went wrong.
The 19 year old Italian was quickly on the radio to complain of a developing issue, and the Mercedes team pitted him for new tyres and a front wind in an attempt to correct the problem, but it was to no avail and Antonelli’s race engineer (Pete Bonnington) quickly attempted to calm the young driver as he explained that the wheel shield had failed and he wanted him to box to retire the car.
Antonelli seemingly ignored this request and began rapidly falling down the top ten, to the point where only a single point was actually on offer. This single point then evaporated following a time penalty for track limit violations with Antonelli finishing in 15th place.
It was a dramatic fall given he had been closing the gap to first place lap on lap and he looked odds on for his maiden GP victory, so post race there was plenty of confusion for those watching on and frustration for the team itself as it could very easily have been a career defining afternoon following a very strong performance.
However, it will now be remembered for Antonelli’s youth, exuberance and naivety that cost him any reward whatsoever.
With the dust beginning to settle, Mercedes Deputy Technical Director Simone Resta released a video where he addressed the source of the problem, explaining.
“It was simply a front brake duct failure of a part of the brake duct that is called the wheel shield. And essentially, 10 laps to the end, we had a failure, and the component got loose and started to interact quite a lot with the suspension behaviour and the steering of the car.”
Resta then praised Antonelli for his resilience in managing a difficult situation, stating that the extent of the internal damage was such that the car became very ‘lazy’ and ‘almost undriveable’ and he acknowledged his desire to keep the car in the race in an effort to score some points.
Scant consolation maybe, but for those dug in on the fact that he should have followed instructions, it may not be enough for them to change their outlook but clearly Antonelli’s desire to finish is less of a problem than in discovering the root cause of the problem to begin with.
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