Antonelli says P2 was Mercedes’ maximum at Sepang

Kimi Antonelli said P2 was the most Mercedes could have achieved in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, where he finished 2.307 seconds behind Max Verstappen at Sepang.

Antonelli said the team had been struggling more than usual and still had work to do, though he was pleased with second place. He said he had thought a win was possible after the start. Antonelli and George Russell passed Verstappen at lights out, but Verstappen retook the lead at Turn 1 at the first Safety Car restart. Russell then passed Antonelli at Turn 5; Antonelli regained second at Turn 4 on Lap 21.

Russell’s Mercedes stopped on the start/finish straight after 49 laps, ending his race. Antonelli said Mercedes had been suffering from reliability problems this season and that it made it important for him to do his best on track, particularly in areas under his control. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described Russell’s retirement as a power-unit failure, said it was not caused by the Safety Car and added that Mercedes had not yet assessed the issue.

Antonelli now leads Russell by 84 points in the Drivers’ Championship.