Antonelli "started to doubt myself" during turbulent rookie F1 season

For Andrea Kimi Antonelli, coming under attack from the bottom half of the internet is just the latest unexpected challenge which has beset him during an up-and-down rookie season with Mercedes in Formula 1.

Although the Red Bull team apologised for its part in stoking the online hatred prompted by Antonelli’s trip across the kerbs late in the Qatar Grand Prix, allowing championship leader Lando Norris to pounce and claim fourth place, this came too late to stem the momentum of the campaign.

Antonelli revealed that while he wasn’t initially aware of the bile being directed at him – in common with the majority of F1 drivers, he doesn’t actually operate his social media feeds – he was shaken by what he saw once alerted to it.

“It was not easy to get all those kind of comments after the race, especially for something that I would never do, such as waving past a competitor,” he said. “After the race to receive those kind of comments definitely hurt, but obviously it was nice to see the Red Bull statement.

“The interaction with people [on social media] is important, but during the weekend I try to look the least amount as possible, because I don't want to get any distractions, I just want to really focus on the job.

“But after the race I got so many messages from friends showing me what was going on, because initially I wasn't aware of it – and then obviously I went looking at it and it was difficult to see, but now I’ve forgotten about it.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Arguably his apparent slump in form during the summer was more damaging than the online death threats levelled against him after Qatar. A new rear suspension geometry, first trialled at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, ought to have brought more consistent ride-height control to the Mercedes’ rear end and delivered more consistent downforce, but actually brought instability robbed both drivers of crucial ‘feel’ under braking.

Racing circumstances such as Mercedes’ subsequent victory in Canada – a track where most of the braking is done in a straight line – masked the issue. Antonelli hit a competitive nadir in Belgium where failure to make it out of Q1 for both the sprint and the grand prix reduced him to tears.

Since the team reverted to the previous geometry in Hungary, Antonelli has looked more like the driver who claimed his first F1 pole position in the Miami sprint, finishing consistently in the points and claiming podiums in Sao Paulo and Las Vegas. He is just two points behind sixth-placed Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship ahead of the season finale.

“This year has been a massive learning curve for me,” he said. “Definitely going into Mercedes this first year I think was a massive opportunity. Obviously I was more under the spotlight, more under pressure, but I think that really helped me to grow even faster.

“I think this season I've had my ups and my downs. Obviously I had a very long, difficult period, but being able to overcome it made me stronger. It was kind of a small victory for me, because obviously during that period of time in Europe I even started to doubt myself and I was also afraid that I wouldn't have been able to get out of it.

“But then obviously since Baku we've been in a good momentum and it's been good fun recently. So I'm quite happy with the season, but mostly I'm happy with how much I grew and how much I matured as a person.

“And definitely next year I'm going to be much more prepared and much more in control of the situation.”