Kimi Antonelli left Searching for Answers after 'Confusing' Bahrain GP

Mercedes prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a poor Bahrain Grand Prix, as he took home a P11, despite starting fifth on the grid.

The Mercedes W16 delivers remarkable performance, potentially making it the second fastest on the grid.

Generally, any finish that does not earn points, or realistically any position outside the top eight, indicates inadequate performance from the driver or flaws in the team's strategy.

Antonelli was primarily the victim of some intriguing strategic decisions, which forced him to drive in traffic consistently.

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Much bad luck also affected his race, as an ill-timed safety car cost the Italian and resulted in another pit stop.

“It’s a bit confusing because obviously it’s the first time I got undercut, and that was fine – I was expecting it,” Antonelli said.

“But obviously when I put the softs on after the medium, we did two laps and then there was the Safety Car."

Keep building, Kimi! 📈 pic.twitter.com/MydpVtuwa1
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 15, 2025

"I felt I could have stayed out – with the Safety Car the tyres would have cooled down anyway and with a bit more free air, it would have been a different story."

“We need to review this with the team, I think on my side I could have probably chosen a bit more wisely the way I was pushing after the pit stop, just to save a bit more tyre.”

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Antonelli has only four races under his belt in Formula 1, which is a challenge for any young driver, especially one joining a top-tier team so early in his career.

While he learns on the fly, his confidence and comfort with the car appear to grow with each stop on the calendar.

“The pace is improving especially qualifying," he said.

"Also, the racing on track is getting much, much better. I’m getting more comfortable with making overtakes and driving around other cars so that is for sure a positive.

"I will try in Jeddah to do an even better qualifying and do a good race from there.”

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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is also seeking answers regarding what caused Antonelli to remain outside the points, although he remains impressed with the progress the rookie is making.

“So, probably Kimi was on the worst end of everything today,” Wolff said.

“The Soft obviously went away after pushing it very hard."

Better and bigger days ahead, Kimi 💪 pic.twitter.com/RzQpVaBNk5
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 13, 2025

“We put on the Medium, and that pushed very hard, and then we had the choice between a hard or a three-stop soft."

“In my opinion, and we have to look at the data, if we would have given him the hard, and the Safety Car wouldn’t have come out at the opportune time, he would have finished in the top eight, top six."

“And because all of these factors came together, it’s just one of those races that we’re making better over the long term.”