Andrea Kimi Antonelli has explained how☂ he turned around his performance in the Japanese Grand Prix, having felt he was driving “really badly" at the start of the week✃end.

Antonelli broke the record for the youngest driver to lead a gꦑrand prix, having briefly hit the front 🌜in his first stint before stopping for hard tyres.

Mercedes driver 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Antonelli faced one of the biggest chalꦫlenges of his ro💝okie season at the Suzuka Circuit, one of the hardest circuits on the F1 calendar.

The young Italian “felt lost🔯” during practice as he struggled to get to grips with the 5.8km circuit, finishing more than a second off the pace in FP2. The loss of track time in a red-flag disrupt🔯ed FP2 session certainly didn’t help his cause.

Kimi Antonelli becomes youngest-ever F1 grand prix leader

However, Antonelli was able to gain the confidence he needed in the W16 when it mattered the most, qualifying his car sixth a solid sixth on Saturday and just two tenths behind teammate 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:George Russell.

But even more impressive was his performance on race day, as he managed to extend his first stint on medium tyres to 31 laps. Even Ferrari’s 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lewis Hamilton, who started on the white-marked hard rubber, couldn’t go as long as the driver who replac🐬ed him at Mercedes.

That first stint allowed Antonelli to push hard on hard tyres in the second half of the race, wher🐭e he set a new fastest lap en route to sixth place.

The result also helped 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Mercedes remain ahead of Red Bull in second place in the constructors’ championship, despite 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Max Verstappen converting pole position to victory in the lead🦂 RB21.

Antonelli admitted that he needs to start race𓆏 weekends on a s🌺tronger note, but was nevertheless happy with his final result in Japan.

“I'm a bit disappointed with how FPs went,” said the 18-year-old. “FP1 was actually quite OK. But then FP2 and FP3 was really bad driving, to be honest, and that took the⛎ confidence away.

“But then in quali was🍷 able to make a big ste🦩p forward.

“He added: What I'm most happy about today is the confidence that I had in the car and the confidence to push, which I didn't have on 🌟Friday and the start of Saturday.

“The feeling that I had in the car is the most important today. I had a really good feeling and I was able to explore the li🍌mit and to push and to play with th𒐪e car as well.

“So def🅺initely for next time I need to start a bit better for FPs so I am a bit more prepared for qualifying and then we see in the race.”

Antonelli explained that his struggles this weekend were down to a lack of understanding of tyre behaviཧour at the newly-resurfaced Suzuka circuit.

The famous esses section in the opening sector puts a lot of stress on tyres, while also playing a si🥂gnificant role in how a car performs over the remainder of the lap.

“I was also trying to strike the best out of the tyre, especially i💮n sector one,” he said,

“In FP I was always arrivin🍌g with no real temperature in the tyre and was just sliding around the first sector and that was taking confidence away.

“I really changed the warm-up. I was having a consistent warm-up every run. It really helped to build the🎶 confidence, so that was a good learning.”