andrea kimi antonelli in the f1 spanish grand prix

Can Antonelli and Mercedes overcome Friday's woes to meet their ambitious goal?

08:54, 31 May

byNorberto Mujica

Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a mixed Friday in Spain, with the Mercedes youngster struggling with bouncing around the quick Barcelona track. Nevertheless, when speaking to F1TV, he resolutely reaffirmed his and his F1 team's lofty goal.

The bouncing did not help Antonelli's FP1 any, as the Italian rookie couldn't help but finish the session way down in P18. The aerodynamic pehnomenon was significant enough to have potentially damaged the floor of his W16.

“We need to check on the floor, but definitely I was suffering a little bit of bouncing, especially in high speed and it was a bit more than usual, so we need to check whether it did something to the floor.”

“Already from single lap [running] I was struggling a little bit with the bouncing in high speed," Antonelli added.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli in FP1 at the F1 Spanish Grand Prix

Antonelli closes up on Russell and believes in Mercedes' bid to challenge at the top

His FP2, though, saw him get closer to teammate George Russell as the Italian managed to finish P6, albeit with the British driver finding himself in P2 behind session leader Oscar Piastri.

"But overall I think the car was much better in FP2, I was feeling much more confident compared to FP1 and I was able to get into the rhythm, especially single lap [runs]."

His long runs efforts were also quite solid, as Antonelli was evenly matched with Russell, however, his late drop-off in the long runs has left him with a bit of a head-scratcher.

“On long runs, I had a bit of a different approach compared to George and I was quite a bit quicker in the beginning and then a bit slower in the end, so I will need to check tonight in order to find the right balance for what it’s going to be on Sunday.”

Despite Friday's struggles, the Mercedes rookie doubles down on his and his team's highly ambitious target: challenging McLaren.

"That’s the goal. I think, with the team, we’re moving in the right direction. On my side I’m seeing where I need to work on, and tomorrow is another day and we’ve tried to do our best."