Mercedes has declared that Andrea Kimi Antonelli's Italian Grand Prix practice accident "changes nothing." Protege Antonelli was making his F1 practice debut in George Russell's car at Monza, driving on the updated floor in a back-to-back comparison with Lewis Hamilton, who was equipped with the older-spec floor. Rounding the Parabolica 10 minutes into the session, Antonelli lost control of the W15, spinning at high-speed into the barrier and was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks. The team is hopeful of fixing the machine for Russell in FP2, with plenty of spare parts available. Reflecting on the incident, team representative and communications director Bradley Lord declared that nothing had changed and that the incident was "good to see." "We were running a floor comparison, evaluating the upgrades brought to Spa, so he had one on, Lewis another on the other car, he had two sets of soft tyres, so the only advice he was given was to go on out and enjoy yourself," Lord told Sky Sports F1. "It is unfortunate, but he was on the limit, pushing from lap one, so that is good to see, it is all part of the learning curve. "It is a high support environment that we need to give him and he'll be having exactly that. It changes nothing."
Antonelli's bounce back
Antonelli has been touted as the replacement for Hamilton in 2025, although no announcement has been made yet, with the 18-year-old due back on F2 duty later in the day. Lord feels it is important for Antonelli to now fully focus on the qualifying session to come with Prema. "It is all part of the learning curve for the young driver," he continued. "The biggest challenge will now be to get him to focus for F2 qualifying this afternoon and be able to deliver his maximum there. "It's been lots of work back at the factory with the engineers in the sim, understanding switch changes, how the car works, and everything you need to do for driving. "We've also obviously done thousands of kilometres already this season in a 2022 car for TPC testing."
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