Kimi Antonelli, a nice message to Lando Norris

Mercedes driver and World Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, in an interview following his victory at the Spanish Grand Prix, gave credit to Lando Norris, who finished third in his McLaren but had led for much of the race and was penalized by the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car.

“It was a tough race, anything but straightforward. I tried to manage the tires. Today’s a nice win, though not like the previous ones because Norris deserved it more today, but… we’ll take it,” said Kimi. “A very positive race for us; I had great pace in the second stint on the hard compound. We need to keep this up and push even harder. Playing it safe is the last thing I want to do right now. We have to push race after race; then we’ll see how it all plays out.”

Here’s what Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had to say after Antonelli’s latest victory: “We’ve taken another small step toward our ultimate goal, but we’ll wait for mathematical certainty before celebrating. All it takes is a couple of rough weekends and everything’s back in play. Kimi is young, so he’s more free-spirited; he’s focused on his job.”

Norris had this to say about his race: “Sometimes things go this way; we’ll take it in stride and try again next time. It won’t be easy—it never is. I’m working well; I’m managing to get the most out of my car, but our rivals aren’t just sitting back and watching.”