The 19-year-old Italian burst onto the grid with real promise in the early flyaways, but the European swing turned into a nightmare.
Antonelli managed just three points across nine gruelling races on the continent, a stark contrast to the 119 points he has racked up everywhere else so far.
Mechanical gremlins plagued the Mercedes camp during that stretch, while a new suspension package left the young driver struggling for rhythm. “We had some mechanical problems, and with the new suspension, I simply couldn’t find a rhythm,” Antonelli has explained.
“I didn’t feel comfortable in the cockpit because nothing seemed to fit together anymore.”
The frustration piled on, turning small errors into big ones. “That made me even more nervous,” he added. “I constantly put myself under pressure, overdid it, made mistakes I never normally made.”
Monza marked the low point, and the reset. Both Wolff and Antonelli’s father pulled no punches in the aftermath. “My boss, Toto Wolff, and my father, they each gave me a good kick in the pants after Monza,” Antonelli revealed.
“Those verbal rebukes and pieces of advice hurt, but I needed that reset. I had to refocus on the important things to get back to my old form.”
A long debrief with the engineers helped too, and the transformation since leaving Europe has been dramatic.
The pace returned immediately on the flyaways, culminating in a stunning weekend at Sao Paulo where Antonelli chased home the winner for second in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix, fending off Max Verstappen in a mature defensive masterclass.
Now, with the Las Vegas Strip Circuit looming, Mercedes arrive as a team reborn in the closing races, their young charger firmly back in contention and proving the tough love paid off.
