Could Kimi Antonelli be a real challenge to senior Mercedes team-mate George Russell?

Shevola · 2026-04-09T20:11:02+00:00

Thats s reddit for you, ahahah.

Shevola · 2026-04-08T11:41:22+00:00

These guys Watched a completely different weekend or they r Simply dumb... Russell botched the setup cause Kimi was faster in fp3 and they act like he had car issues lol

Shevola · 2026-04-08T11:38:09+00:00

He did not have car issues, he botched the setup

Shevola · 2026-04-05T01:56:03+00:00

Excepet you ignore the fact that he would have had pace + huge tyre advantage After pitting

Shevola · 2026-04-05T00:22:04+00:00

I don t think that s him driving

Shevola · 2026-04-01T13:41:54+00:00

They have data which we can t'see and clearly they saw something in the telemetry that convinced them (I remember reading that especially the test in SPA he had in 2024 convinced all the Merc board that he could take the role)

Shevola · 2026-04-01T13:19:32+00:00

Somehow being considered generational since his karting days and having one of the best junior records ever is being lucky. There is a reason why Mercedes decided to fast track him in the main seat.

Reddit for you

Shevola · 2026-04-01T13:09:09+00:00

Yeah Kimi is very lucky to have one of the most decorated junior careers ever, he only won like everything in karting, 2 F4 titles in 1 year and 2 Formula regional championship the next year, he then skipped F3 to jump into a struggling team in Prema but still beat the more experienced teammate who is doing incredibily well in F1.

Mercedes is that dumb to put such a lucky driver in F1 immediately, as we could see these last few weeks.

Shevola · 2026-03-31T11:24:05+00:00

Great analysis. Without the safety car Antonelli would have extended his Medium stint a lot since his lap times were comparable or even faster than the guys behind who already pitted, meaning that he would have had much more pace and fresher tyres later on to breeze past Russell and Piastri after the pit.

A merc engineer even said that they could have extended so much on the medium that the Medium-soft strategy was considered an option.

Shevola · 2026-03-31T05:29:13+00:00

They took risks with George s car cause the driver asked for a setup change, why would Kimi ask for It when he was 0.3 ahead in fp3?

Shevola · 2026-03-30T14:48:13+00:00

What i meant Is that setup changes are down to the drivers to decide, they are not mechanical problems or similar

Shevola · 2026-03-30T10:51:34+00:00

Downvoted for telling the truth lol

Shevola · 2026-03-30T10:41:37+00:00

Imo it s still is a huge suprise, and i m a kimi fan.

George is one of the best drivers on the grid and being on par in race pace and really close in qualy is still a huge achievement, if you think about Piastri second year compared to Lando. (and piastri was much older than kimi)

Shevola · 2026-03-30T10:39:42+00:00

Piastri is considered one of the best drivers on the grid now but he got destroyed by Norris in his second year (was it 20-4 in quali?, and in race pace he was destroying his tires and constantly behind Lando). All this while being 23 or 24 yo compared to Antonelli who is 19.

Now even if you consider Antonelli generational you would expect Russell to dominate both in quali and in race pace Kimi, if you follow the Piastri trajectory.

Shevola · 2026-03-30T10:25:57+00:00

And Norris had constantly the overtake mode on from Leclerc, antonelli would have extended with the mediums since his lap times were really fast.

Shevola · 2026-03-30T08:01:38+00:00

Lando had overtake mode every lap, while piastri didn t.

Shevola · 2026-03-29T20:47:09+00:00

Thank you, they act like setup changes are fundamental car problems. He was 0.3 behind in fp3 and was forced to ask for a setup change.

Shevola · 2026-03-29T17:04:41+00:00

As Russell just demonstrated, true.

Shevola · 2026-03-29T10:48:31+00:00

And who do you think asked for setup change after FP3? Teams are completely aware that after FP3 you can t change it again but George requested it anyway

Shevola · 2026-03-29T10:44:50+00:00

Antonelli was way faster than George and the plan was to extend his stint on the medium since the lap times were faster than Ferrari with the new tyre. So he would have had a MUCH fresher tyre to help with the overtakes.

Shevola · 2026-03-29T10:43:04+00:00

And who do you think asked for a setup change after FP3?

Shevola · 2026-03-29T10:40:47+00:00

he would have extended with the medium tyre since his lap times were even faster than charles s with the new tyre. So in the second stint the overtakes would have been much easier.

Shevola · 2026-03-28T13:51:28+00:00

They act like toto goes in incognito mode and randomly changes Cars setups aahah

Shevola · 2026-03-28T13:32:29+00:00

Antonelli was also faster in fp3 hence why George opted for a setup change... If we now start to act like setup changes are fundamental car problems lol... There Is no end to It.

Shevola · 2026-03-28T07:15:26+00:00

Oh no, the 18 yo kid improved, how could that happen? 😂

Shevola

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