Antonelli struggling with ‘very difficult’ new-spec Mercedes after P7 in Singapore Sprint Qualifying

Kimi Antonelli has conceded that driving Mercedes’ upgraded car in Singapore – amid the team’s decision to split specifications – proved to be a struggle during Sprint Qualifying, with the Italian labelling his version of the W17 as “very difficult” after ending the session in P7.

The Silver Arrows confirmed ahead of the action getting underway at the Marina Bay Street Circuit that George Russell would revert to the Azerbaijan-specification of the car for the event, while Antonelli would continue to run the upgrade that the team brought last time out in Malaysia.

This decision – on a weekend where Russell will serve a grid penalty due to an unavoidable engine change – was made due to the results from the updates at Sepang proving inconclusive.

As such, Antonelli and Russell completed the opening day of action in Singapore with varying specifications – and it was Russell who led the way on the timesheets, the Briton setting the fastest lap in Friday’s sole practice hour before going second-quickest in Sprint Qualifying.

Antonelli, meanwhile, appeared to be off the pace of his team mate and had to settle for seventh place in both sessions.

Asked after Sprint Qualifying if he was surprised by how difficult it had been to get lap time out of the car, the championship leader responded: “Yes and no, to be fair. Already [in] FP1 I was struggling and, yeah, still a lot to understand about this package.

“The car is very difficult, very unpredictable and very difficult to put a lap together. So yeah, it's a shame because I was coming [here] with high hopes, but so far it's been very difficult."

Given the apparent difference in pace between the two Mercedes specifications so far at Marina Bay, Antonelli acknowledged that the rest of the event could prove challenging for him.

“I think it's going to be a difficult weekend, unless we can pull something out tomorrow,” he explained. “But other than that, it's going to be very tricky. I don't really see where we can find seven tenths, but you never know.

“Maybe tonight, Bono [Pete Bonnington, Antonelli’s race engineer], the engineers, we're going to find something in the car. And for sure, I'm going to try to improve a little bit the driving, and then we'll see tomorrow where we end up.”