Shovlin: Antonelli had less confidence under braking and at turn-in

Kimi Antonelli had less confidence under braking and at turn-in during Friday’s Singapore sessions, while Mercedes was still trying to understand why its upgrade had not delivered the performance gain it expected, Andrew Shovlin said after sprint qualifying.

After experiencing difficulties with the upgrade in Malaysia, Mercedes ran different specifications on its two cars in Singapore to compare them. Antonelli retained the configuration introduced in Malaysia, while George Russell returned to the specification used before the Malaysian race weekend.

Shovlin said he was pleased Russell was on the front row for the sprint, although neither car had an ideal balance. He added that a driver needs confidence under braking and at turn-in to attack a qualifying lap in Singapore.

Shovlin said Mercedes had enough data to make progress and hoped the team could improve Antonelli’s setup before the main qualifying session.