Formula 1: Antonelli also dominates the Monaco Grand Prix and is increasingly leading the World Championship. Charles furious: “It’s the brakes’ fault”
A phenomenon and many normal drivers. The phenomenon is Kimi Antonellinot even twenty years old, with his fifth consecutive victory in Formula 1, the first on the most iconic circuit, that of Monte Carlo where no one had won so young. Pole position and perfect race, Kimi won twice: when he flew away at the start, taking advantage of Max Verstappen’s problems, blocked like a rookie and then immediately forced to retire and then in the second start, the one that the race direction decided to do with ten laps to go after the race had been stopped due to the accident at Charles Leclerc ended up against the wall. The last victory by an Italian in Monte Carlo dates back to 2002 and it was Jarno Trulli who achieved it. Kimi’s is a triumph built after a Friday in which Mercedes was in trouble and it still was seeing Roussell’s times. But when we talk about Antonelli we must explain that the Bolognese is a real talent and he demonstrated it by eliminating the gap on the Ferraris and lapping faster than the Reds by three tenths per lap. Perfect management, never a moment of difficulty and even a crescendo ending with incredible times. The boy with curls smiles and wins, he almost doesn’t seem to realize what he’s doing. He is rewriting the history of Formula 1.
Leclerc’s anger
To forget the afternoon of Charles Leclerc who with ten laps to go was fighting with his teammate Hamilton for second place and he was betrayed by the brakes. The Monegasque explained it at the end of the race: “I’m not someone who hides behind excuses and I’ve taken the blame several times even when there were small things that weren’t optimal, but it’s part of our sport. Today, even looking at the data, I couldn’t do anything at all“. Leclerc also nervous about the team’s mess. His Ferrari, third behind Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes and behind the other red one, that of Lewis Hamilton, was forced to make a pit stop with just over 10 laps to go. This occurred, however, together with that of his teammate Hamilton. Problem: the Englishman had to serve a 5-second penalty, and so Leclerc was stuck behind him. A choice that angered Charles. “I know we have to improve, but f…, why didn’t you leave me on the track?”, Leclerc shouted over the radio. “Why did I pit? I don’t even understand your answer.” But let’s go back to the brakes, Leclerc said that in the last races he and Hamilton have made different choices, but from Barcelona (next weekend) Charles will follow Lewis’ line because it was evidently the right one and in fact in Monte Carlo Hamilton had no problems with the brakes. “Lewis tried different things, he took a different direction three races ago with other brakes. That’s what I’ll do from the next race. In the end I don’t even have the words. I don’t need to explain too much, I can’t go into detail about what happened. In the general approach and choice of brakes I’ll look at how we could have made a better decision, but today there was nothing I could do.”
