Kimi Antonelli claimed that he felt more at ease in a Formula One car than his previous outing in Monza.
The 18-year-old stepped in for Lewis Hamilton, the man he is replacing for Mercedes next season, and was involved in a crash with Alex Albon.
But Antonelli was pleased overall with his run-out. “Definitely much better than Monza,” he explained.
“I drove much calmer today. I didn’t want to take any risks, I just wanted to do a clean session to get some laps [in], understand the car a bit more, understand the tyres.
“I think overall it was pretty decent. I could feel I wasn’t on the limit, but just because it was much choice – I just wanted to get a clean session [in].
“I was trying to build the confidence lap-by-lap… on the soft [tyre], the step [up] in grip was quite big.. I felt a lot more grip and didn’t really use it because I was really surprised by the amount of grip.
“I was able to pick up the pace quite quickly. Of course, I was not on the absolute limit, but it was good.”
