Kimi Antonelli told he 'must make changes' at Mercedes despite strong Azerbaijan GP

Kimi Antonelli has been given a vote of confidence after his strong showing at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. However, the Italian has also been told to "bring some changes to his inner organisation" if he is to achieve his full potential in Formula 1, amid a rocky debut season in the sport.

Antonelli was fast-tracked into F1 by Mercedes who chose the talented teenager to fill seat vacated by Lewis Hamilton when the seven-time champion chose to join Ferrari. And he began with some impressive results to start the season, most notably a first pole position for the Sprint race in Miami, and then a maiden podium at the Canadian Grand Prix.

But the European portion of the season was a disaster for Antonelli, who only turned 19 in August. He scored just three points, one in Hungary and two at Monza, across the nine Grand Prix weekends and dropped to as low as eighths in the drivers' standings, below Alex Albon who races for midfield outfit Williams.

He will hope to have got his season back on track, though, with an impressive showing in Baku. He nagivated a very difficult qualifying session to put himself on the second row and converted that into a fourth-placed finish, bagging 12 points and moving back above Albon in the standings. Team-mate George Russell finished second and Mercedes moved up to second place in the constructors' championship as a result.

Among those impressed by Antonelli's showing in Azerbaijan was former F1 team owner Gian Carlo Minardi, who pointed out the youngster was beaten only by three strong drivers of vast experience. He said: "Well done Kimi Antonelli in not taking unnecessary risks, consistently driving a tenth and a half of a second behind his team-mate - who I consider one of the three or four best drivers of the world championship.

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"Antonelli demonstrated all his worth, even from a mental point of view. Of course, he must bring some changes to his inner organisation, but he will continue to grow. He has a year and a half ahead of him to improve. Even today, he fought for the podium, and let us not forget, he was up against giants such as Verstappen, Russell and Sainz."

Speaking about his own performance, Antonelli seemed relieve about the uptick in his performance but admitted he had hoped for more. He said: "It was a much better race compared to Monza. It is a bit disappointing still, because I was really hoping for the podium and I was so close.

"I tried to get close to Carlos and eventually almost got into DRS, but then with the dirty air, I started to struggle a little bit. But still, a decent result, especially for the team. We gained a lot of points on Ferrari, so that is definitely a positive, and now we move forward."