安东内利称梅赛德斯在美国大奖赛取得进步
安东内利表示，梅赛德斯在美国大奖赛上进一步挖掘了近期升级套件的性能，在奥斯汀带来新的前翼选项。
安东内利称梅赛德斯在美国大奖赛取得进步，车队在逐步消化升级
随着梅赛德斯近期升级让赛车更快但也更难调校到最佳窗口，安东内利认为车队在美国大奖赛练习赛中取得了急需的进展
F1车手积分榜领跑者安东内利认为，梅赛德斯在美国大奖赛上又迈出一步，努力从近期升级套件中挖掘性能。
梅赛德斯来到奥斯汀颇具挑战性的美洲赛道，带来新的前翼选项，以进一步补充两站前在马来西亚引入的重大升级套件。那次初步升级提高了赛车的性能上限，但也让赛车更敏感、更难调校到最佳状态。
在安东内利和乔治·拉塞尔于新加坡站使用不同套件后，如今两人都用上了最新规格，梅赛德斯在奥斯汀从第一节练习到第二节练习的进展表明，W17 仍然很难进入正确的工作窗口。
但当魔法发生时，性能是可以被挖掘出来的，周五安东内利仅落后法拉利在第二节练习领跑的夏尔·勒克莱尔 0.042 秒。
“相比第一节练习，我在车里感觉更好了，”安东内利说。“还有很多工作要做，但这是很好的进步，现在我们会尝试进一步提升。两辆车使用相同套件有帮助，因为我们可以尝试很多不同的东西，也能更好地理解这套套件。”
“自新加坡以来，我们得以分析数据，更好地理解这套套件的需求。我们仍在努力寻找如何让赛车进入正确窗口，但我们一直在向前迈进，我们会看看还能做些什么来进一步提升。”
长距离试跑的初步数据显示，四支顶尖车队实力相当接近，红牛和法拉利或许略领先于梅赛德斯和迈凯伦，这为德克萨斯站的周末增添了悬念。
赛道工程总监安德鲁·肖夫林补充道：“我们第一节练习表现不佳。我们本希望通过两辆车上的升级套件探索更宽的调校窗口，但我们在锁死方面遇到了困难，这在我们单圈工作和长距离试跑中都是很大的限制。”
“我们在进入下午的练习赛前重新调整了赛车，这似乎让我们处于更好的状态。我们的平衡问题减少了，赛车更可预测，圈速也因此有所提升。”
拉塞尔仅获得第五名，落后勒克莱尔零点七秒，因为他没能跑出一个完整的圈——他第一次使用软胎的尝试因超出赛道限制而作废，第二次则因在COTA赛道最快路段S弯中出现巨大甩尾而毁掉。
周六排位赛的故事不仅关乎赛车的极限性能，还关乎如何在严苛的最后一节中让倍耐力的软胎保持活力，因为在排位赛模拟中，随着后轮橡胶开始衰退，多位车手出现了锁死或冲出赛道的情况。
“我认为关键就是在那个连续弯路段保持后胎状态良好，这样你才能在最后一个弯角拥有性能，”车队副领队布拉德利·洛德表示。
布拉德利·洛德，梅赛德斯AMG F1车队副领队
“就是把调校做到位，让赛车能够旋转而不必过度消耗后胎、过度使用油门，如果我们能做到这一点，应该就能处于良好状态。”
理论上，奥斯汀是安东内利锁定首个世界冠军的第一次机会。但这种情况需要这位意大利车手赢得比赛，同时拉塞尔排名第九或更低，并且刘易斯·汉密尔顿排名第五或更低，因此梅赛德斯并没有过度关注这一情形。
洛德指出：“归根结底，基米本周末夺冠意味着车队经历了一场非常糟糕的比赛，因为数学上要求乔治排名第九或更低，这不是我们想要的比赛方式，也不是我们追求的结果。”
“所以，机会非常渺茫，理论上有可能，但实际来说，这不是赛点周末。我们只会努力上场，尽可能多拿积分，然后看看数学上何时能对我们更有利一些。”
英文原文
Kimi Antonelli hails "step forward" at United States GP as Mercedes chips away at upgrades
As Mercedes' recent upgrades made its car quicker but also tougher to get in the sweet spot, Kimi Antonelli felt the squad made much needed progress in United States Grand Prix practice
Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli reckons Mercedes has made another step trying to extract performance from its recent upgrade package at the United States Grand Prix.
Mercedes arrived at Austin's challenging Circuit of the Americas with a new front wing option to further complement its significant upgrade package introduced in Malaysia two races ago. That initial upgrade raised the performance ceiling of the car, but also made it more peaky and harder to optimise.
With both Antonelli and George Russell now on the latest specification after splitting packages in Singapore, Mercedes' progress from first to second practice in Austin suggested the W17 is still difficult to get in the right operating window.
But when the magic happens there is performance to be found, with Antonelli just 0.042s behind Ferrari's FP2 leader Charles Leclerc on Friday.
"I felt better in the car compared to FP1," Antonelli said. "There is still lots of work to do, but it was a good step forward and now we'll try to improve even further. Having both cars on the same package helps, because we can try lots of different stuff and we can have a better understanding of this package.
"Since Singapore we were able to analyse the data and understand better what this package needs. We're still trying to find how to put the car in the right window, but we've been taking steps forward and we'll see what we can do to improve even more."
Initial reads from the long runs suggested all four top teams are fairly evenly matched, with perhaps Red Bull and Ferrari slightly ahead of Mercedes and McLaren, setting up an intriguing weekend in Texas.
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin added: "We didn’t have a good first session. We were looking to explore a wider set-up window with the update package on both cars, but we were struggling with locking, which was a big limitation in both our single-lap work and the long runs.
"We repositioned the cars going into the afternoon session and that seems to have put us in a better place. We had fewer balance issues, the car was more predictable, and the lap times improved as a result."
Russell only managed fifth, seven tenths behind Leclerc, after not getting a proper lap in - his first soft tyre effort scratched for exceeding track limits and his second ruined by a huge snap through the fastest portion of COTA's Esses.
The story of Saturday qualifying will not just be about ultimate car performance, but also about keeping Pirelli's soft tyres alive through the demanding final sector, with several drivers locking up or going off the track as the rear rubber started fading in qualifying simulations.
"I think it's just all about keeping the rear tyres in good shape through that twisty bit so that you've got the performance in the last corner," said deputy team principal Bradley Lord.
Bradley Lord, Deputy Team Principal, Mercedes AMG F1 Team
"It's just getting the set-up in the right place and getting the car able to rotate without needing to overuse the rear tyres, overuse the throttle and if we can do that then we should be in good shape."
Austin is theoretically the first opportunity for Antonelli to seal his maiden world championship. But as that would involve the Italian winning the race with Russell finishing ninth or lower - and Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth or lower - it's not a scenario Mercedes is overly preoccupied with.
"Ultimately, for Kimi to win this weekend it means the team's had a really bad race, because the maths say George needs to be ninth or below, and that isn't how we want to go racing and the result we're aiming for," Lord pointed out.
"So, it's a very minimal chance, it's theoretically possible, but in practical terms, this isn't the match point weekend. We'll just try and get out there, get as many points as possible and then see when the maths start to come towards us a little bit more."
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