'Still a lot of work to do' - Antonelli after setting pace in Belgium practice

Yeah, it's good to have two quick guys that's that's for sure I'm sure there'll be some some management needed They're incredibly close. I think if we look this morning there there their ideal laps are separated by Milliseconds, so it's gonna be it's gonna be Nip and tuck. I'm sure. Oh, yeah We know the competition especially with racing bulls We know Cadillacs improving quite a lot as well as the Alpine So for us, we are fighting in that midfield area and it's to try to consistently be there chipping at it It depends. I think a little bit circuit to circuit whether we're ahead of one or behind But ultimately we need to be making sure that we're delivering whatever the package can deliver each weekend. That's the goal You know we as a team have entered the sport with a bold ambition for the future and if you're going to do that you enter the sport with with humility and and respect for the competition and This isn't a sport. You can just walk into and blow everyone away It's it's a one way you have to build foundations and and build a high performance Environment for your team to be in and that's exactly what we're focused on This morning in practice. He was quickest. He's now leading the championship. I think after after his great weekend at Silverstone, so he's To say he's on the radar would be a little bit of an understatement He's he's he's next in line. I think it's fair to say Yeah, we made big changes with the car and it was a it was a lot better So that's that's a good direction. Of course. There's still a lot of work to do As a team and you know as well in with my driving, but yeah, it was a much better session Let's just wait and see I think we probably turned up with the Mercedes and the rest of them didn't so I think I was so probably at the minute fastest but Seems like if we can get things right then we might be a little bit closer than we were in in in Silverstone So let's wait and see The balance is straightaway. They're just fine-tuning a little bit with the car, which hopefully unlocks a little bit more pace But honestly, I think from what we what we have as a as a package. It's been it's been a good day You know The race pace is by far the most important thing here and George's long run but the little bit that we had looks look solid and as I said, there'll still be bits to work on but the The the goal is that we'll be fighting with both cars at the front of the field It looks like there's some decent competition there particularly max looks looks strong today, especially on the long runs The balance is clearly Far from perfect that we we have to work on Plus some degradation on the long run that we have to work on but yeah, I think is a is a good starting point to to improve There is a lot of to do on the energy deployment because we saw today that you have a Huge Delta speed between the cars from one straight line to the others I mean that you need after simulation and simulation simulation now We are in the real life and we have to also to think about the race how you have to attack and defend We know we've got a better PU now and it puts us more in line with some of the other Teams that are running Mercedes engines. So yeah, we know it's helping. It's just difficult to pick out. You know that that's a lap time Made a couple of changes into It's P2. The gap is a little bit Seems a bit bigger today than at least mp2 than anticipated, but hopefully we can try and close that tomorrow But overall the journey feels good