Kimi Antonelli had every reason to join Mercedes' celebrations at Interlagos on Sunday, but the newly crowned world champion was hardly in a party mood after watching a potentially memorable Sao Paulo Grand Prix victory slip through his fingers.
The Italian had briefly looked capable of delivering a perfect afternoon for the Brackley outfit, seizing the lead from polesitter Lando Norris and building an encouraging advantage during the opening stint.
Instead, a mysterious handling problem culminated in a costly spin, leaving Antonelli fighting damage and lost performance rather than challenging for the win.
Mercedes nevertheless secured its ninth Constructors' Championship, its first since 2021, with George Russell finishing fourth and Antonelli fifth. That achievement was enough to put the Italian's personal disappointment into perspective, at least temporarily.
"I'm very disappointed for the race. I'm very angry to be fair, but I'm going to put all this aside for now because the team clinched the title," Antonelli said.
"We clinched the title for the team, and they all deserve it and I'm very proud to be part of this group and this team who has done and still does so much for me and I'm very happy for them. But talking about the race specifically, yeah, very disappointing."
A promising afternoon unravels
Antonelli's frustration was understandable. Having overtaken Norris at the start, he initially appeared to have the pace to control proceedings, gradually settling into his rhythm as his tyres came up to temperature.
Even after Norris' earlier pit stop reduced the gap through an effective undercut, the Mercedes driver remained in contention. Then came the incident that changed everything.
At the beginning of lap 20, Antonelli suddenly lost the rear of his car at Turn 1 and spun, allowing Norris to sweep into the lead. Although he managed to rejoin, the Italian was now vulnerable to the pursuing Red Bulls of Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen.
The spin was particularly perplexing because Antonelli had already sensed something amiss with the car, reporting that it was pulling to one side under acceleration.
"We were on for the win up to that point,” he explained. “Also in the lead, once I was able to get some temperature I was getting to the rhythm. But yeah, the spin came which still is something I need to look at because I don't know why I lost the rear so quickly as well.
"Like no warning, nothing. But already to be fair when I put the soft, I felt something weird with the car. So, we need to check what happened but on the other hand yeah, shame because we lost the race there."
Mercedes faces a handling mystery
Speaking afterwards to Sky Sports, Antonelli offered a more precise description of the problem, suggesting the Mercedes was particularly unsettled through left-hand corners, especially at higher speeds.
The spin had also left all four tyres flat-spotted, compounding his difficulties and making the remainder of the race an uphill battle.
A fresh set of softs eventually restored some performance, allowing him to close back in towards the end, but the damage to his afternoon had already been done.
"We need to check something with the geometry of the car, of the rear, because I had this issue only in left corners. So especially at the high speed was when I was feeling it the most," he told Sky.
"And the rear felt very unstable, even in coming into the finish line in the left kink, the rear was very loose, which was weird.
"We need to check something in the car to see if anything happened. But it was a very odd feeling. And then when I spun, the tyres were gone; all four wheels flat spotted. Only when then I put on the second set, we got back to pace. It was a shame."
The champagne was certainly deserved for Mercedes. But after having the race within his grasp, Kimi Antonelli could hardly be expected to forget what might have been.
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