The run-up to the summer break hasn’t been easy for Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Formula 1’s youngest current driver, Kimi Antonelli, had only scored points in one of his last seven races.

Mercedes were delighted when both of their drivers finished on the podium in Canada, highlighting the 18-year-old’s ultimate potential.

However, Antonelli had made several mistakes in recent races and had been subject to reliability issues that saw the gap between himself and teammate George Russell rapidly grow in the drivers’ championship.

Antonelli admitted to losing confidence in his car in recent races, with Russell using all of his experience to drive around the issues.

Lewis Hamilton spoke to Antonelli to try and help him through his issues, and the latest race in Hungary appeared to be a turning point.

Although he was eliminated from Q2, the Italian recovered to finish 10th, proving to be one of the few drivers who made progress at a track that’s notoriously hard to overtake at.

Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Tom Kristensen says Kimi Antonelli was ‘extremely happy’ with Mercedes car change

Racing driver and pundit Tom Kristensen spoke to the F1 Nation about Antonelli and said: “Since they won in Canada with a new suspension, actually, they of course had some belief in that, but it has completely destroyed the confidence with Kimi Antonelli.

“And on Friday evening here, I spoke to him, and he was incredibly happy. He found again that he could play with the car, and he had trust in the car again.

“And that comes from the rear suspension, whatever they have done, I’m not sure.

“But at least they’ve reverted back, and we have seen Mercedes doing that before. They come with an upgrade during the season, but then they have to go back.

“And of course, that doesn’t make them close to being world champions again. The car is on the edge, a little bit of a diva.

“But for me, the rear suspension, for Kimi Antonelli, particularly made it good.

“George is always fast, always good, but he doesn’t always get a perfect weekend. And I think that is a little bit of that diva Mercedes. It seems there is still a little bit.”

Mercedes ditch rear suspension update to George Russell and Kimi Antonelli’s relief

At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Mercedes introduced a rear suspension update to try and help their drivers catch the imperious McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Their result in Canada seemed to prove that the update worked, but since that race, the car has become increasingly hard to drive.

Mercedes couldn’t understand why both drivers were struggling, as throughout the ground effect era, it’s been clear that Toto Wolff’s team don’t always know why their car performs in the way that it does.

Antonelli’s lack of competitiveness hasn’t helped Mercedes’ hopes of overtaking Ferrari in the constructors’ championship.

However, now that the team have pinpointed what went wrong and Antonelli has a few weeks to reset, there’s no reason why they can’t topple the Scuderia to finish as the best of the rest behind McLaren.