Having grabbed a sixth-place end in Jeddah, Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli insisted that tyre overheating has massively affected his automobile’s efficiency on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
George Russell began from third on the grid after his sensible final push lap in qualifying. Whereas he appeared comfy on the medium tyres in the course of the opening stint, he quickly after began to undergo from greater ranges of degradation.
The Briton elected to pit early, and whereas Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris rejoined the monitor behind Russell after their very own pit cease, the Mercedes man misplaced out to each the Ferrari and McLaren driver to complete fifth in Jeddah.
His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli began from P5 on the grid, and appeared sturdy within the early phases of the race. Nevertheless, his tempo pale because the race progressed, and he even clipped the wall at one level.
Though Ferrari’s seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton appeared a lot stronger in the course of the second stint, the Bologna-born managed to extract sufficient from his W16 to dissuade the Briton from chasing too onerous behind.
Reflecting on his race in Jeddah, the Bologna-born driver acknowledged that whereas he felt comfy in his W16 throughout sure factors of the 50-lap race in Jeddah, tyre overheating massively affected his race.
“It was a tricky race however general, I’m glad to come back dwelling P6. I struggled with understeer on the Medium tyre within the first stint. The entrance tyres began to degrade early on, so our tempo wasn’t sturdy within the early phases.
“I felt higher on the Onerous compound after our pit cease although and our pace within the ultimate 10 laps was aggressive. I nonetheless needed to handle although as we had been affected by overheating on the tyres all through the race.
“Right now’s race was nonetheless good studying for me. It has been an intense triple-header; there’s tons for me to have a look at and work on, however I’m additionally wanting ahead to some restoration time and to coming again stronger in Miami. We are going to preserve pushing as a staff to enhance and construct on our begin to the season.”
