Mercedes take the blame for Antonelli's Silverstone blank
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LONDON, July 6 : Mercedes have shouldered the blame for Formula One leader Kimi Antonelli's failure to score points in Sunday's British Grand Prix, the Italian's second such blank in the last three races.
Antonelli started on pole position at Silverstone and after losing two places straightaway to Ferrari had fought back to have a possible victory in his sights when his car suffered a mechanical failure with 11 laps to go.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the team's strategists had predicted Antonelli, 19, would have caught Ferrari's eventual winner Charles Leclerc six laps from the end without the problem, caused by a broken front wheel shield around the brake duct.
The team pitted the teenager twice to try and resolve the issue and then told him to retire, a command Antonelli resisted as he sought to salvage something.
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That hope then disappeared when he collected a five-second post-race penalty for exceeding track limits in a car that was difficult to steer, dropping him from ninth at the flag to 16th with his lead over teammate George Russell slashed to 25 points.
"It's on us. A car should not break," said Wolff.
Television replays indicated the car was damaged when Antonelli rode over the exit kerb at high-speed Copse but Wolff said the driver had been doing nothing different to previous laps.
"Something got stuck in there (the front wheel) and that's why he wasn't able to turn," said Wolff.
"We're going to take the whole car back to the factory in order to take it apart there to really see where it happened, how it happened, and why we had so severe consequences of him not being able to turn it."
Antonelli said he had felt instantly that something had broken, with the front of the car lifting in some corners but he had not wanted to give up.
"I just showed that I have the mindset that I try every time I go on track, I do my best, that I try to give everything,” he told reporters. “Despite things that were already going against us, I saw there was the possibility to get one point.
"It didn't go our way and it's a shame because we had a real shot for the win. It's one extra motivation to be back stronger and be even better."
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