Antonelli has even only finished three of the past seven Grands Prix. The Italian retired from the Emilia Romagna GP owing to a throttle issue, the Spanish GP after an engine failure, the Austrian GP after crashing into Max Verstappen and the British GP when hit by Isack Hadjar.<\/p>\n
His sole highlight from the last seven rounds was Antonelli\u2019s debut F1 podium with P3 in the Canadian GP<\/a>. Last week\u2019s Belgian GP produced another low point, too, as Antonelli qualified P20 and finished the F1 Sprint in P17, while qualifying P18 and ending the Grand Prix in P16.<\/p>\n Mercedes were baffled by their pace deficit to McLaren in the Belgian GP<\/a>, as George Russell also only qualified P13 and ended the Sprint at Spa in P12 before qualifying P6 and finishing the Grand Prix in P5. The Briton was also 34.863s from the lead and 14.678s to the podium.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Alex Jacques believes that Mercedes \u2018regret\u2019 one Andrea Kimi Antonelli career decision after his difficult Belgian Grand Prix<\/a><\/p>\n Friday 1st August to Sunday 3rd August So, Antonelli has confirmed that Mercedes will now revert to their previous rear suspension set-up for this weekend\u2019s Hungarian GP<\/a>. The rookie wonderkid hopes the change allows him to rebuild his confidence with the W16, having failed to adapt to the Silver Arrows\u2019 upgrade.<\/p>\n Antonelli said, via quotes by Motorsport.com<\/a>: \u201cWe\u2019re going back to the old suspension and that, hopefully, will bring the feeling back because since we moved to that suspension apart from [in] Canada, I\u2019ve been struggling to drive the car and getting the confidence.<\/p>\n \u201cProbably also my side, I didn\u2019t adapt the best because I was always trying to keep my style and to drive the car the way I wanted it. But it didn\u2019t really work out, and George, on the other hand, has been adapting better.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has a different driving style, but he\u2019s been able to adapt a bit better, and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s been hurting me in this European season. Hopefully, by going with the old suspension, it will bring back a bit [of] the feeling I had.\u201d<\/p>\n Mercedes are now regretting their mistake with their rear suspension upgrade<\/p>\n Antonelli admitting that Mercedes are reverting to their previous rear suspension set-up is a clear sign that the Silver Arrows regret their mistake of sticking with the design after the red herrings of Russell\u2019s Canadian GP win from pole position<\/a> and the Italian\u2019s first podium in F1.<\/p>\n READ MORE: All you need to know about Mercedes F1 Team from team principal to lineage<\/a><\/p>\n Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 266 2 250 3 185 4 157 5 139 6 109 7 63 <\/p>\n Mercedes revived their rear suspension upgrade in Canada<\/a>, having benched it for the events in Monaco and Spain following its debut at Imola. The upgrade was designed to increase the anti-lift on the rear of Russell and Antonelli\u2019s car under braking and improve their tyre wear.<\/p>\n But the gains the Silver Arrows enjoyed in Montreal, where Russell earned their first and so far only pole position and race win this season, did not follow Mercedes back to Europe. So, Mercedes feel their rear suspension upgrade led their engineers astray<\/a> and will axe it again.<\/p>\n![\"Mercedes](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2226685972-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Andrea Diodato\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesAndrea Kimi Antonelli confirms Mercedes will revert to their old rear suspension in Hungary<\/p>\n
\n Friday 1st August 11:30 1st Practice Friday 1st August 15:00 2nd Practice Saturday 2nd August 10:30 3rd Practice Saturday 2nd August 14:00 1st Qualifying Saturday 2nd August 14:25 2nd Qualifying Saturday 2nd August 14:48 3rd Qualifying Sunday 3rd August 13:00 Race <\/p>\n