Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was delighted to claim his first Formula 2 feature race victory at the Hungaroring, which he reckoned could signify a change in Prema’s form.
Winning a wet sprint race at Silverstone was already a “big relief” for the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior, who has now been reassured by winning on dry conditions, in which the team had repeatedly ‘lacked race pace’.
“It is really special,” he said to media including Formula Scout after the race. “Today our main goal was to try to do the best race possible. And it turns out we came away with a win.
“With the second safety car, I knew it was the moment because I had the fresher tyre. But the pace was really strong during the whole race. I think we really deserved it because the pace was really strong. Of course, a bit lucky with the second safety car, but at the end we took every opportunity and we made them work.”
On lap six of 37, Antonelli pulled off a brilliant move on Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney at turn nine, which he consolidated at turn 11. He described it as a “turning point for my race”, as he became the leading driver on the alternate strategy.
“I was quite a bit stronger in the chicane compared to him and that is the point where you don’t really expect an overtake,” he explained. “I tried yesterday as well. Didn’t really pay off. Definitely, today worked. I had a better run as well. And I think Richard [Verschoor] yesterday expected it because he saw me coming. Zane saw me coming a bit too late and I was already in. So luckily, it paid off.
“Even if it [Silverstone victory] was in the wet, it was really important for the mental side and also gave a lot of faith to us and also for the team. Because we knew we could do great things. It’s just we didn’t really figure out how to do it because obviously we were struggling a little bit.
“This weekend, even in the sprint race, even though I pushed a bit too much on the tyres, the pace was looking quite good.
“For today, we tried to change the balance because yesterday, for example, we had a bit too much understeer, so we balanced a bit more the car, especially for the prime, which was the tyre we were lacking a bit more.”
He added: “Obviously, this track is not such a high-speed [track], but you’ve got quite a few long corners. And you don’t have any really long straight to cool the tyre, so you’re always putting the tyre under threat, under pressure. It’s a slower speed track, so we have to see when we go back in high-speed tracks, which could be Spa. But definitely the problem was solved because even on the prime I did a lot of laps, and the pace was really consistent. So definitely the car was handling better today.”