“He’s going to kick my butt because of the start. I deserve that,” is what Kimi Antonelli said in response to his major area to improve within his dream start to 2026, in which the entire month of April – in part due to the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia GPs – he will have spent leading the Formula 1 world drivers’ championship. Antonelli knows he has a job to do, kick up the backside from team boss Toto Wolff or not. He knows it because there were three clues that gave proof that his race starts need work with the new F1 cars and rules.
Two wins in three races is close to the best he could have hoped for at the start of the year which exceeded expectations. Antonelli’s chances for a podium finish were clear from testing, when the Mercedes W17 showed what it was made of, but expecting the 19-year-old to be leading a very strong and experienced driver like George Russell in the same car seemed a tall order, at least at the start of the season.
And yet it happened. And it happened thanks to lucky breaks, but also thanks to superior pace – especially in Japan – that had remained unmatched since Friday’s race simulations in practice. In Japan, Antonelli was simply the fastest driver. The inadvertent help that came from the well-timed safety car intervention merely opened a door further that was already ajar.
Looking at the trophies in the trophy cabinet is nice, but Antonelli will also focus on what to improve given the details make the difference, and the Bologna-born teenager knows he has to iron out something that, upon closer inspection, is anything but a detail.
In three out of four races (including the sprint in China), Antonelli made various procedural errors which, on closer inspection, cost him much less than one might expect given his pace and the circumstances that saw him blessed by good fortune.
In Australia, Antonelli arrived on the grid after completing a formation lap without a battery. This prevented him from completing the necessary burnouts to warm up the rear tyres, nor from having the energy needed for the first lap.
George Russell, Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
“The start was a game changer,” Antonelli said in Australia. “It obviously was very stressful because I didn’t have power out of the last corner, so the car was not responding to any inputs and it was very stressful, and then the start was poor, very poor, and I just lost a lot of places and found myself having to chase.”
On that occasion, Ferrari’s strength at the start was revealed, as was the only real advantage it had over Mercedes’ power units. In reality, McLaren – and Mercedes, especially with Russell – had found a way to close the gap to Ferrari at the start of the races.
Russell has proven that the Brixworth-built power unit has the potential to produce strong starts. That’s why Antonelli has noted the starts as something he needs to improve on, rather than on his W17.
In China, however, the sprint caused the most problems. During the preparation lap, a misunderstanding between Antonelli and race engineer Peter Bonnington led to the wrong start mapping selection. This cost Antonelli and subsequently led to contact with Hadjar and a 10-second penalty served during the pitstop phase during the safety car deployed following Nico Hulkenberg’s retirement on lap 13.
In Japan, however, the problems weren’t related to the formation lap procedures or mappings, but rather to the clutch paddle release movements. Antonelli, in his opinion, was too frenetic and, coupled with the rear tyre temperatures not being within the ideal window, the rear axle slipped, ruining the pole position he had secured the previous day.
“I have to say that in Japan, on Sunday, I didn’t enjoy the victory as much as I wanted because I was upset about the start,” Antonelli admitted. “Of course, I was aware that I had been very lucky despite that. I was happy with how I managed to take advantage of the opportunity and also with the race pace.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images
“But I was very angry about the start – it was really shocking, the kind of thing that makes you want to pull your hair out. I’m already working on it.”
Antonelli has signalled his intent, using the frustration about his poor starts to be a push to continue growing, gradually completing the picture to become a well-rounded F1 driver and what Mercedes expects from him: a driver capable of winning the F1 title.
Antonelli has understood the underlying message of the first races and must use the unscheduled break to fine-tune things that didn’t work between Australia and Japan. That’s why he had the steering wheel and its settings delivered to his home and is trying, wherever possible, to find a reliable system that will prevent him from arriving on the grid without energy or from improperly releasing the clutch levers, causing the rear wheels to spin.
The month-long hiatus that F1 is taking this April can be interpreted in two ways for the Bolognese: an annoyance, because it interrupts a period that was nothing short of a dream, but also an opportunity. Antonelli is at the beginning of a journey to refine himself as a driver, and this is a step he must take, with the ambition of being one of the major F1 title contenders not only in the future, but also in the present.
Even though he still has plenty of time to improve, some opportunities come along fleetingly. At the start of this year, Mercedes has created the best car and power unit package and Antonelli shares the garage with one of the strongest drivers in F1 today in Russell, but the pressure is on the Briton’s shoulders to lead the title fight given his experience. That’s why Antonelli is right to be upset about his mistake in Japan: great champions pay attention to every detail. Or, more precisely, on a decision made in thousandths of a second which can lead to winning or losing the most coveted prize.
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here
