Kimi Antonelli spotted in canny disguise during Barcelona GP FP1 absence

Kimi Antonelli snuck into the Barcelona Grand Prix crowd on Friday, blending in while wearing a Spider-Man mask.

The idea was not too dissimilar to when his teammate, George Russell, took in the atmosphere at the Foro Sol Stadium for last year’s Mexico City Grand Prix, going unnoticed by fans.

Kimi Antonelli joins Barcelona GP crowd in Spider-Man disguise

Antonelli was on the sidelines for FP1 in Barcelona, with Mercedes reserve Fred Vesti having taken the wheel in one of the team’s mandated rookie sessions.

Having been stood by race engineer, Peter Bonnington, in the early part of the session, the Drivers’ Championship leader ventured out into the main grandstand to watch cars driving along the start/finish straight.

In a mask which did not fully cover his face, and still wearing full Mercedes gear, Antonelli’s disguise was perhaps not the most conspicuous, with the world feed cameras having picked him up during the session.

Mercedes filmed his venture into the fans, having pulled a hood over his head alongside his mask in order to further conceal his identity.

His disguise appeared to have worked, however, as he sat unbothered among the Barcelona crowd before hot-footing it back to the Mercedes garage.

The 19-year-old took the wheel of his W17 again in FP2, going fifth-fastest as Russell lapped second quickest, with the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri having shown a turn of pace in practice.

Speaking after the session, the Drivers’ Championship leader acknowledged the issues most of the grid was having in keeping their tyres cool enough over a lap, but feels Mercedes should be competitive once again.

How free practice played out in Barcelona

F1 results: Barcelona Grand Prix, Free Practice 1 – Russell bounces back

Lando Norris edges George Russell as top three separated by 0.057s in FP2

“It’s been a bit tricky, single lap, just the [operating] window is so small,” he explained.

“Tyres are overheating quite a lot, so just trying to find the best balance, of course, with only one lap, where each set is always difficult, but I think overall there’s still work to do, quite a bit, but I’m quite confident ahead of tomorrow.

“Long run was good in the practice, so that’s a positive, but yeah, definitely looking forward to tomorrow, and looking forward to the changes that we’re going to make.”

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