Antonelli had “metronomic” pace in test

In brief

Antonelli had “metronomic” pace in test

After Mercedes junior driver and F2 racer Andrea Kimi Antonelli successfully completed two private F1 tests for the team at the Red Bull Ring and Imola, technical director James Allison said the team were very impressed by the 17-year-old.

“I have had the great pleasure of listening to the engineers describe the interaction with him,” he said. “Just a young, enthusiastic driver, very, very fast, metronomic in his pace.

“He has not been in an F1 car until recently, but made it look like he’d been in one for ages within a lap or two. He came at this generation of cars, the ground effect cars, with an open mind. He feels all the same things that you’d expect him to feel.”

Antonelli first tested the team’s championship-winning W12, built to the previous generation of technical regulations, before moving on to more recent machinery. Allison said his lack of experience of the earlier cars was a strength.

“He’s not sort of polluted by the previous cars, so he just takes them as they are and tells us what he is feeling as weaknesses and strengths and lets the engineers work to try to improve those things. But he looks like a very promising young driver.”

Penske lead Fast Friday at Indianapolis

The three Penske drivers locked out the top spots in Fast Friday practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of the start of qualifying today. Last year’s race winner Josef Newgarden was fastest with a four-lap average speed of 376.688kph (234.063mph).

Scott McLaughlin was second-fastest ahead of Will Power, followed by McLaren drivers Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward. With the top five places claimed by Chevrolet-powered drivers, Meyer Shank’s Felix Rosenqvist was the leading Honda runner in sixth.

Nolan Siegel suffered a heavy crash when his car got away from him at turn two. He spun around, struck the barrier and flipped onto his car’s roll hoop, but was unhurt. Last year’s pole position winner…