Formula 1 arrives in Belgium and after the victory at Silverstone the Reds go chasing the Mercedes. And Antonelli talks about his meeting at Wimbledon with Federer: “Fantastic”
The race for the Formula 1 World Championship restarts from Spa, Belgium, which this season revolves around the duel between the Mercedes Kimi Antonelli and George Russell and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. After the undisputed domination of the silver arrows in the first part of the season, the Reds with two victories (one by Hamilton and the other by Leclerc) have once again believed in the possibility of winning the title. Now comes a fast circuit which theoretically favors Mercedes, but Charles Leclerc is optimistic about the possibilities of his car, the Monegasque began by analyzing his period of crisis which fortunately ended at Silverstone with a return to success: “I don’t think it depends on Ferrari itself – said Leclerc – I think it depends more on this generation of cars. I have a rather aggressive driving stylein general. I think this has been a strength throughout my career. But with these cars sometimes you have to be careful not to overdo it, because in that case the drop in performance is notable and you risk losing a lot in terms of power unit power. If you are not efficient, if you do not accelerate cleanly, if you do not do things consistently, always the same, then the situation becomes complicated because you run into different problems. For example, a different speed when cornering, which changes the braking point and forces you to continually readjust your reference points, making everything very difficult”. In England, however, the turning point came: “There were some changes that I made at Silverstone to try to get comfortable with this generation of car and to adapt my driving style, obtaining much better results. But as I said at Silverstone, this is something I want to demonstrate on more circuits and not just with one victory. Obviously I am very happy with the victory, but it is not only with a victory that I can say that everything is fine now and I am relaxed. There is a lot of work to do to try to maintain this shape and above all this feeling, because if the feeling is there, the lap times and performance arrive accordingly. So I just try to work as hard as possible to try to maintain this feeling for the rest of the season and for the different circuit layouts.”. Charles is optimistic: “Mercedes is the favorite at Spa. Coming back here, where I got my first victory, is special, all the drivers like this track. It’s exciting for two reasons: for having achieved my first success here, but it’s also the place where I lost my dear friend Hubert. I hope it will remain an iconic track even with the new generation cars.”
Kimi and Federer
Kimi Antonelli to digest the bad weekend at Silverstone he distracted himself on the Wimbledon Central where he chatted for a long time with Roger Federer. The Bolognese recounts the meeting with the former Swiss champion with great enthusiasm: “It was great. It was my first time at Wimbledon. In the last two or three years I have become much more passionate about tennis, also knowing Jannik Sinner. I started following him more and it was a great experience. Having the chance to talk to Roger was great too, he told me a lot about the grass pitches and also about his previous experiences. We talked about my matches, when he played and also about his life in general. I think it’s, in addition to being an incredible athlete, also an incredible person. Very humble and very open. He simply told me to just focus on one race at a time. To focus on what I can control and to also control my emotions, especially those that can lead me to make mistakes. These were his main pieces of advice.” Then Antonelli returned to the difficulties encountered by Mercedes at Silverstone: “It was a very strong weekend for us overall, and that’s the positive aspect. We were up there every session. It’s good to see that the pace was good and that we still have good momentum despite some difficulties we encountered previously. For my part, I just have to bring home the result by trying to make the most of every aspect that is under my control. The rest is not up to me. I just have to try to drive as fast as possible and continue to provide performance.” The missed opportunities in recent weeks inevitably weigh heavily. “Obviously it’s very frustrating, but this is motorsport. Things like this happen. I think I’ve had enough bad luck, but they are part of motorsport. They are external factors that you can’t really control. I just have to make the most of every opportunity that comes my way and everything that I have under my control. The team is doing a fantastic job to ensure that all these problems do not happen again.” The Bologna native’s performance so far has been very satisfactory, but he is self-critical: “I wouldn’t give myself a 10. There are a few reasons. First of all, the mistake in Australia in free practice 3, when I almost missed qualifying and we couldn’t find the right set-up of the car, compromising the rest of the weekend. Then I would say Japan: I won, but I got a really bad start and then I had a bit of bad luck with the Safety Car. More recently the Miami Sprint, where I made a mistake on the track limits, and the qualifications in Barcelona and Spielberg. There are some little things I should have done better, so I’d give myself an 8 and a half“.
