Valentino Rossi, Marco Bezzecchi, and others star in Mercedes star Kimi Antonelli’s photo dump

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli has shared a photo carousel on Instagram, capturing his eventful past month. The post includes snapshots from the MotoGP paddock, featuring Italian legends Valentino Rossi and Marco Bezzecchi.

Antonelli captioned the post:

"Last month was tanta roba (awesome)🙌.”

The post also gives a peek into his training routine, downtime with his girlfriend, Eli Babickova, and moments with his Mercedes crew. It has come during the off week between the Singapore Grand Prix (Oct. 5) and the US Grand Prix next week (Oct. 19).

Speaking to Crash.net earlier this year, Kimi Antonelli revealed that Valentino Rossi has been a mentor to him.

“He’s been giving me advice. Definitely one of them is taking time for myself. He was telling me if I say no sometimes it’s not a problem because at the end of the day there’s so much going on that I have to really prioritize. That is one of the main bits of advice he has given me, because he's been through it many, many times. What he has done in the sport is amazing," Antonelli said.

Those words came when the teenage Italian was still adjusting to life in Formula 1, managing expectations that come with replacing Lewis Hamilton.

Since then, Kimi Antonelli has shown maturity. After a difficult summer stretch marked by DNFs in Britain and Austria, he rebounded strongly with consecutive top-five finishes in Baku and Singapore.

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“I got a little kick in the butt” - Kimi Antonelli on team meeting during European leg

Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Toto Wolff of Mercedes F1 Team at Monza. Source: Getty

Kimi Antonelli was at a recent event at the Mercedes Leadership Centre on Lauda Drive, where he held an open Q&A session with his team members. Reflecting on the European leg earlier this year, the Italian spoke candidly about the change in mindset that helped him return on track.

“It was a tough period,” Antonelli said (via Mercedes). “As a driver, frustration starts to get over you. The focus starts to go somewhere else. You don’t focus as much on the process anymore. You just try to get the final result. I think that was my problem during the European season.”

He revealed that after a P9 finish in his home race at Monza, the team sat him down for what he called a much-needed reset.

“After Monza, I did a big meeting with Bono and the engineers. I got a little kick in the butt, but it was what I needed, honestly. Now I’m back on the right track, with the right mindset, and focusing on the process, on the basics, trying to drive well, put things together, and then I know the result will come by itself," he said.

Since that meeting, Antonelli has looked more assured, scoring consistently and showing stronger one-lap pace. He sits seventh in the drivers’ standings with 88 points, and his teammate George Russell is fourth with 237 points.

Edited by Parag Jain