Kimi Antonelli explains ‘main difference’ between himself and George Russell as he assesses where to improve

Kimi Antonelli has cited having confidence in the car as the main area of difference between himself and team mate George Russell, with the Italian admitting that he is still developing this as he continues to make steps forward during his rookie campaign with Mercedes.

Antonelli enjoyed a strong start to the season across the opening three rounds, having consistently scored points in each race as well as during the first Sprint of the year in China.

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Asked during Thursday’s media day ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix for his assessment on how things have gone so far for him in 2025, the 18-year-old responded: “So far I think [things] went pretty well.

“The thing I was the happiest [with] is the consistency I had throughout the three races, and [I] keep trying to improve weekend by weekend.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - APRIL 10: Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team — Antonelli is happy with the consistency of his performances so far in his rookie season

“Of course every weekend is a massive learning for me, especially learning about the tyre I think was really helpful, and I think it’s going to be really helpful to have the same compounds [as in Suzuka] this weekend as well, just because I’m understanding more and more of the tyre.

“I think in the first especially couple of races, I really struggled with warm-up in Qualifying, and I think Suzuka was a big step forward in that side. So obviously massive learning, but so far I’m happy with how it’s going.

“Of course, George is driving really well and he’s really helping me to develop and push myself even further, but I’m happy because I’m getting there slowly.”

Russell has indeed performed well so far, with his back-to-back podiums in Australia and China – followed by a fifth place in Japan – marking his strongest ever start to a season since arriving in F1 back in 2019.

In terms of the key areas where he can still improve in comparison to Russell, Antonelli explained: “I think, now he has quite a bit of experience with the car [and] in F1 in general, the main difference is you can see the confidence he has; especially he knows how to place the car, and also where the car is going to end up in a corner while pushing.

SUZUKA, JAPAN - APRIL 06: George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 — Antonelli believes that Russell currently has more confidence in the car

“So there’s a lot of knowledge and confidence [there] as well, but I think Suzuka was a really big step for me in terms of confidence and understanding the car, so I’m really looking forward to this weekend because obviously it is a track that I know.

“Conditions will be much, much different compared to what we had in [pre-season] testing, because it’s going to be much, much hotter, but I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do during the weekend.”

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Antonelli is also clear on his goals for the weekend in Bahrain, with the most pressing one being to simply continue the momentum that he has so far built during the first three Grands Prix.

“Keep the positive trend, keep improving the Qualifying pace,” the teenager said of his aims. “I think the speed is there, but it’s more about being able to put all the dots together, starting from the warm-up and then the lap itself.

“Yeah, keep the positive trend and keep working hard, and we’ll see what the results are going to be on Sunday.”