How Charles Leclerc inadventertly hindered Kimi Antonelli’s race in China. Charles Leclerc was behind the issue with the floor of Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes.

After securing fourth place in Australia, the young Italian talent achieved another top-ten finish. Kimi Antonelli finished sixth in the Chinese GP, despite a problem with the floor of his Mercedes, likely caused by Charles Leclerc.

The driver called to replace Lewis Hamilton continues to live up to the high expectations set for him since his karting days. In his first two races of the season, Antonelli has shown that he has not struggled too much with the transition from Formula 2 to Formula 1, immediately proving to be very fast and consistent.

This explains the 22 points he has collected in the first two races of the year, which place him fifth in the standings—a result that was far from certain at the start of the season, given the many doubts some experts had about him.

Kimi Antonelli held back by Charles Leclerc

At the end of the Chinese GP, where he finished sixth following the disqualifications of Leclerc and Hamilton, Kimi Antonelli commented on his performance at the Shanghai circuit. “I’m not too satisfied, mainly because of qualifying,” the Mercedes driver began. “As for the race, from the first lap, I realized that something was wrong. I felt that the rear was unstable, whereas in the Sprint, I had struggled with the front.”

“I noticed it right after the start. I hit a piece of Leclerc’s wing with the floor, and that caused several damages. The team preferred not to tell me, but I immediately felt that something had happened,” Kimi Antonelli added.

“Now I’ll review everything carefully to see what I could have done better, and then we’ll start preparing for the Suzuka weekend,” the Mercedes driver concluded.