After taking pole position yesterday, Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) won today’s Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka circuit.
A nineteen-year-old has this second career win and the second in a row after the one in Shanghai two weeks ago. With today’s victory, he took over the first place in the championship from his teammate, Georg Russell, and became the youngest driver in the history of F1 to lead the championship.
After the race he did his reactions about today’s race.
I had bad start to the raceI have to check what happened. I was lucky with the safety car and to be in the lead, and later the pace was excellent. I felt good in the car and I am grateful for thathe said after the race, reports HRT.hr.
He said how it is nice feeling to lead in the championshipbut that it is still too early to think about winning the title, but that it is going in the right direction.
He reiterated how lucky he actually was with the safety car and that it made the race easier for him and that he had the pace on the medium hard tires after having more clean air in front of him, as well as on the hards when he was leading.
As the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were canceled due to the war in the Middle East, Antonelli said that he will work on the starting procedure, which he and Mercedes are struggling with this season.
Fortunately, we have three weeks so I can practice releasing the clutch to get a better feel, as it is definitely a weak point this year. We have to fix that because you can easily win or lose the race with that.
The next race is on the schedule May 3 in Miami.
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: X)
