Antonelli’s “metronomic” pace in first F1 test impressed Mercedes

In brief

Antonelli had “metronomic” pace in test

After Mercedes junior driver and F2 racer Andrea Kimi Antonelli successfully completed two private F1 tests for the team at the Red Bull Ring and Imola, technical director James Allison said the team were very impressed by the 17-year-old.

“I have had the great pleasure of listening to the engineers describe the interaction with him,” he said. “Just a young, enthusiastic driver, very, very fast, metronomic in his pace.

“He has not been in an F1 car until recently, but made it look like he’d been in one for ages within a lap or two. He came at this generation of cars, the ground effect cars, with an open mind. He feels all the same things that you’d expect him to feel.”

Antonelli first tested the team’s championship-winning W12, built to the previous generation of technical regulations, before moving on to more recent machinery. Allison said his lack of experience of the earlier cars was a strength.

“He’s not sort of polluted by the previous cars, so he just takes them as they are and tells us what he is feeling as weaknesses and strengths and lets the engineers work to try to improve those things. But he looks like a very promising young driver.”

Penske lead Fast Friday at Indianapolis

The three Penske drivers locked out the top spots in Fast Friday practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of the start of qualifying today. Last year’s race winner Josef Newgarden was fastest with a four-lap average speed of 376.688kph (234.063mph).

Scott McLaughlin was second-fastest ahead of Will Power, followed by McLaren drivers Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward. With the top five places claimed by Chevrolet-powered drivers, Meyer Shank’s Felix Rosenqvist was the leading Honda runner in sixth.

Nolan Siegel suffered a heavy crash when his car got away from him at turn two. He spun around, struck the barrier and flipped onto his car’s roll hoop, but was unhurt. Last year’s pole position winner Alex Palou lost time with an engine failure around midday but returned to the track and set the 17th-fastest four-lap run.

Dunne disqualified from F3 qualifying

New McLaren junior driver Alex Dunne lost his fifth position for Sunday’s F3 feature race and his eighth place for today’s sprint race after he was disqualified from qualifying.

The MP driver was discovered to have anti-roll bar links designated for the rear of his car installed on the front. As this part does not comply with the regulations for the front anti-roll bar links, he was disqualified from the results of qualifying and permitted to start both races from the back of the grid.

Alpine junior Nikola Tsolov and Rodin driver Callum Voisin also both received three-place grid penalties for today’s sprint race for driving too quickly under red flag conditions in Friday’s practice session. Red Bull junior Kacper Sztuka will start the sprint race from reverse-grid pole.

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

Mercedes should ignore Hamilton and save another F1 star's career in 2025 (Mirror)

'That means they need a short-term option who is happy to be a stop-gap until they young hotshot is deemed ready. So they should turn to a familiar face in Valtteri Bottas. He is out of contract with Sauber at the end of the year and it seems he won't be getting a renewal. The situation has annoyed him greatly, but his old team-mate Hamilton's decision to join Ferrari has come at the perfect time for him.'

Joining Vettel’s run for the ages as F1 remembers Senna and Ratzenberger at Imola (F1)

'As per the arrival at Senna’s memorial, a second downpour arrived as the drivers posed for photographs with their Ratzenberger wristbands. A sign from above or merely a coincidence? That’s for you to decide. While some of the crowd dispersed at this point, many ploughed on in the rain determined to complete the lap and make their own small tribute. Vettel was a key figure throughout, at one stage storming past me with the Brazilian flag draped over his shoulders in an image I’ll never forget.'

Interview with Pat Symonds: Senna, with Pirelli on his debut (Pirelli)

''Back then, much more so than today, the big teams didn't like taking a gamble on a rookie. At the time, there weren't as many young driver programmes as there are today. So focussing on a rookie was maybe too risky. Ayrton had won the British Formula 3 championship its true, but he hadn't been dominant, as he had to fight right to the very end to beat Martin Brundle. So, in some ways, it was understandable that Frank Williams and Ron Dennis didn't want to take risks. For us, as a little team, it was easier to go for him and then we were really struck by how he immediately felt comfortable in a crabby car like ours: he seemed made to race in Formula 1.''

Mercedes has been a dominant grand prix force before — and will be again (Motor Sport)

'It’s struggling at the moment, but at this level and the weight of expectation which comes with the name, it’s the pain of the struggle which energises the forces and leads eventually to a competitive rebirth. That’s how it’s always been. It’s just a question of how long it will take.'

How upskilling drove Norris to his maiden F1 victory (Tech Informed)

''McLaren has a huge focus on technology and what it can do for them. Building out things like collaboration, communication, how to do things like clear goal setting, thinking how to give effective feedback conversations and understanding management style.''

How do you revolutionise cybersecurity in motorsport? (Aston Martin)

''In the past 18 months, we as a team have grown significantly. We've gone from 500 to 800 people. If you think about the trackside profile, we have approximately 150 people going to 24 events worldwide. It's not just about keeping the data, devices and servers secure but also people's personal devices.''

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Social media

Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:

History, passion and racing all go hand in hand. 🤝@alo_oficial talks emotion, past battles and classic old-school racing as we embark on a double header starring back to back iconic racing tracks in Europe.#ImolaGP pic.twitter.com/WLyimkTCPw

— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) May 17, 2024

After a busy few weeks in Enstone, it's great to have Executive Technical Director, David Sanchez trackside 👊 pic.twitter.com/61KvNGBxFr

— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) May 17, 2024

Lettuce – Lettuce – Profiteroles… 😂

Incredible stories of Ayrton Senna uncovered for the first time, told by the team who worked so closely with him during his time at McLaren. ❤️#Senna30 #SennaSempre pic.twitter.com/5tuOzKTnSp

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) May 17, 2024

She’s back people 😂 @MotoAmerica @IndyCar @BarberMotorPark pic.twitter.com/VRU3xOpDqL

— Michael Hill 🎤 (@mhillofficial) May 17, 2024

TRIDENT BOYS 🔱💙
Another amazing achivement to add to the collection.
P1, P2 & P3#TridentTeam #TridentMotorsport #formula3 #f3 #imolagp pic.twitter.com/Sm4yibeu56

— Trident Team (@trident_team) May 17, 2024

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Comment of the day

With Williams team principal James Vowles openly admitting for the first time that Logan Sargeant has to improve to keep his seat in the team, Bernasaurus wonders if it would have been better to keep that in-house…

I’m not sure what Vowles is aiming for here. Who is his audience with these remarks?

If it’s Logan, I can’t imagine he’ll find them particularly inspiring. If it’s the larger world, again, not great for Logan.

The reality is that Logan is broadly the same driver that struggled to stay in touch with Alexander Albon last season that James rehired for this season.

Whatever tough conversations have been had, keep them inside the team.
Bernasaurus

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On this day in motorsport

• Born today in 1967: Heinz-Harald Frentzen