Kimi Antonelli has revealed how he was "talking" to his tyres as he attempted to nurse his rubber the whole race in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
From 17th on the grid, Antonelli started on the soft tyres, and was quickly able to get rid of those under the early virtual safety car for debris, trading them in for a set of the hard compound tyres.
He then ran these tyres to run in fourth place, but the team switched the Italian to a one-stop, meaning he was forced to nurse the tyres 48 laps to the chequered flag, with graining a key issue throughout.
However, Antonelli was able to hold off the McLaren of Oscar Piastri on the road for fourth, which became fifth by 0.190s when a five-second penalty for a jump start was applied over Charles Leclerc.
In a further twist, Antonelli was then promoted to third place, for a third-career podium, after Lando Norris from second and Piastri in fourth were disqualified for plank wear.
Addressing his mega stint, Antonelli revealed how talking to the tyres guided him home.
"I was talking to the tyre in the last 20 laps, every lap on the straight, I was just asking them to 'please hold on until the end,'" Antonelli told media, including RacingNews365.
"I was a bit concerned with the graining through the race, but eventually, once I was in the free air, especially on the last lap, and thanks to some advice from the team on driving, the graining started to clean up a little bit.
"We were able to hold on, and actually, the laps kept getting faster and faster; it was just a shame we started so far back, but that is part of the learning, and now we move on and focus on the next two races.”
Antonelli came under considerable pressure from Piastri and Leclerc in the final laps with the penalty also looming on his shoulders.
The Italian admitted he was content with finishing P6 after the penalty was applied, but managed to out-pace Leclerc in the final laps to bridge enough of a gap to finish ahead of the Ferrari driver.
It would prove crucial for Antonelli after the post-race disqualifications for McLaren, which promoted Antonelli to third.
"I got to within 20 laps of the end, and the team radioed to say I was on Plan B, so I knew I would have to go until the end,” he said.
“I felt quite comfortable in the last 10 laps with Oscar behind, but the graining started to clean up and the pace got stronger and stronger.
"So I was feeling comfortable. With three laps to go, inside myself I was like: 'Maybe I'm going to get P6 with the penalty', and I was able to pull a gap big enough for P5.
"It was very tricky, I think the suggestion is that I rolled a little bit, but I didn't really feel it in the car, so I just need to review the onboard and understand what the issue was."
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