Championship leader Kimi Antonelli has “spooked himself” and must “get out of his head” to avoid crumbling under the pressure of the Formula 1 fight, according to pundit Naomi Schiff.
The Mercedes driver arrived at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a commanding 81-point lead. But that advantage was reduced to 66 points after team-mate George Russell successfully converted pole position to a race win, while Antonelli finished fifth after starting from 16th on the grid.
Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, former W Series driver and Sky Sports F1 pundit Schiff warned that the Italian driver’s body language in Baku suggested he was starting to feel the pressure of his maiden championship fight.Â
“I felt like when I was looking at Kimi on track this weekend and not just the mistake that he made [in qualifying], but just his general demeanour on track, it felt like a driver who’s driving for that championship, but has almost spooked himself a little bit too much,” Schiff explained.
“So he feels a little bit stiff in the car because he doesn’t want to make a mistake. And that’s also not the right place to be in.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
She added: “He just needs to get out of his head. And we’ve seen it happen before. Last season he was in his head a lot as well. He managed to get that under control, and then he was driving more freely. He came into the beginning of the season a new man.
“I really hope that he’s not going to spook himself out of this because it is so easy. It’s such a psychological game that once you get in your head, you start worrying about things. You almost bring those things to yourself. So I hope he can free himself up.”
Although Antonelli endured a difficult weekend in Baku, he still holds a 66-point lead in the drivers’ championship over his team-mate Russell, who sits in second.
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