Allison explained what Antonelli's difficulties were related to.

      Mercedes highly praise Kimi Antonelli’s progress in his debut Formula 1 season, although the 18-year-old Italian’s results sometimes fall short of what he and the team would like. On one hand, he has already stood on the podium once; on the other, he has almost three times fewer points than George Russell, his experienced teammate.

      James Allison, Mercedes’ technical director, partly attributes this to the crash Antonelli suffered last year in Monza at the very start of his first run in a Formula 1 car. But the team is doing everything necessary to restore Kimi’s confidence.

      “All this may be more gossip than reality, but I think the collision with the barriers in Monza could have led to him approaching work on race weekend days more cautiously,” Allison told the championship’s official website. “You could say we encourage him, tell him to trust his talent: ‘You can rely on it more than you think.’ And he is gradually working with more confidence, finding the necessary pace during the weekends increasingly faster.”

      At present Antonelli is seventh in the drivers’ standings with 64 points, while George Russell has 172. Russell is currently fourth in the championship: in Canada, where Kimi first reached the podium, his teammate took victory, and overall this season George has finished in the top three six times.

      Allison believes that working with such an experienced and quick driver has brought Antonelli considerable benefit: “George makes almost no mistakes, produces good qualifying results. When we give him a car he can work with effectively, he fully lives up to our expectations, so he deserves praise.

      “Obviously he sets very high standards that Antonelli has to measure up to. I’m pleased that Kimi this year has generally been able to close the gap to George in terms of pace. You could say that over time he has become a bit quicker at getting into the rhythm on race weekend days.

      “But because George performs at a very high level, for Kimi this is a great opportunity to learn from such a fast driver.”

      Antonelli’s progress was also helped by Mercedes’ return to an earlier version of the suspension after some unsuccessful experiments during the season. At least in Hungary the young Italian again finished in the top ten, after which he said his “former confidence is coming back.”