Lewis Hamilton offered words of encouragement to his successor Andrea Kimi Antonelli after his early elimination in the qualifying round at Spa-Francorchamps. The 18-year-old Italian is in his first year in Formula 1, driving for Hamilton’s former employer Mercedes. The seven-time world champion is impressed with Antonelli: ‘He didn’t even have his driving license when he started.’
Not only was Lewis Hamilton out of the Belgian qualifying round after Q1, but Andrea Kimi Antonelli was also eliminated early on Saturday. After the young Italian failed to climb higher than seventeenth place during the sprint race earlier in the day, he was only allowed to start from the eighteenth spot in the main event. Hamilton, who knew exactly how the Mercedes driver felt, offered his replacement at the Silver Arrows some encouragement.
“Lewis came to say goodbye to the team and we definitely had a chat,” Antonelli tells the media present in Belgium. “He said I had to keep my spirits up and that it’s normal to have bad weekends. And that I just had to keep believing. That was very kind.” Unfortunately for the rookie, he ultimately finished no higher than sixteenth in the main event. According to teammate George Russell, the W16 was ‘much harder to drive’ for both drivers at Spa-Francorchamps than earlier in the season.
Hamilton Impressed by Antonelli
Although the European races have been somewhat disappointing for Antonelli in terms of results, the Mercedes driver did impress earlier this year with his first podium finish in Canada among other things. Hamilton praises Antonelli for how he handles the pressure. “I can’t even imagine what it must be like to be eighteen,” the Ferrari driver tells Sky Sports F1. “He’s doing great. To be thrown in at the deep end like that at 18. He didn’t even have his driving license when he started racing. He’s doing great, and he also has a great group of people, including Bono (Hamilton’s old race engineer), around him.”
