Kimi Antonelli explained why Mercedes ultimately gave up on a one-stop strategy during the Hungarian Grand Prix, despite a favorable position.
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Kimi Antonelli secured another third place in Hungary, but the Mercedes driver’s race could have taken a very different turn.
Initially, the German team had chosen a one-stop strategy, an aggressive gamble that had allowed Lando Norris to win on the same circuit a year earlier.
This approach had put the Italian back in the fight for second place. But with 16 laps to go, Mercedes finally decided to call their driver back to the pits for a new set of tires.
A decision motivated by concerns about tire wear.
“We were worried”
Antonelli confirmed that Mercedes had deliberately abandoned this risky strategy as a precaution.
According to him, the team feared that the tires would not last to the finish in good condition.
“With the strategy, we took a risk at the start, then we ultimately backed off because we had some concerns about safety.”
The timing of this stop, however, proved unfortunate.
Two laps later, Oscar Piastri’s retirement triggered a virtual safety car, allowing notably Max Verstappen to gain a position over Antonelli.
A podium despite difficult conditions
Despite this setback, Antonelli believes Mercedes achieved the best possible result.
The Italian driver acknowledges that his car was tricky to drive throughout the race.
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“I think we maximized our result today. We were a bit lucky with the virtual safety car caused by Oscar’s problem, but, apart from that, we did the maximum.”
He notably mentions a difficult balance to find.
“The conditions were complicated. I struggled with oversteer, then with understeer. It wasn’t an easy race, but I am satisfied with the result.”
Norris was out of reach
Antonelli also wondered what he could have achieved without the three-place grid penalty received after qualifying.
Even with a better starting position, he believes however that Lando Norris had too much of a performance advantage.
“If I had started third, the race would obviously have been different. But I think Lando had an advantage over everyone this weekend.”
According to him, the pace of the McLaren and the difficulties in following another car on the Hungaroring made any attack very complicated.
Thanks to this third place, Antonelli approaches the summer break with a lead of 50 points over Lewis Hamilton and 69 points over his teammate George Russell in the championship. The Mercedes driver finally praised his team’s work, convinced that despite this strategy change, it gave him the best possible chances to get on the podium.
“In the end, the team put me in the best position to fight for the podium. It was an excellent collective effort.”
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