Even with two victories already achieved in three races in the 2026 Formula 1 season, Kimi Antonelli believes that Mercedes still needs to evolve. The championship leader highlighted that starts have been a weak point, after admitting a mistake at the Japanese GP.
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The young Italian achieved his second victory of the season in Suzuka, a result that put him in the lead of the drivers’ championship. Antonelli has a nine-point advantage over his teammate, George Russell, consolidating Mercedes’ strong start.
Despite the German team’s dominance, Antonelli stated that there are still areas to improve: “I think our car is very good,” said the driver, before pointing out the aspect he considers most concerning.
The Italian recognized that starts have been a challenge for both him and Russell: “For sure, maybe on the starts, but I think, in Suzuka, it was completely my fault,” he stated, taking responsibility for the poor start performance in Japan.
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Antonelli also highlighted that McLaren demonstrated superior performance in this aspect: “Together, George and I have struggled a bit more than we expected since the start of the season, and McLaren had a very good start, so clearly they are doing something better, also in the way the drivers execute,” he said.
The young driver also mentioned the performance of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri as an example: “In this case, Oscar did a much better job than me, because… I can’t say, but I messed everything up quite significantly,” he added.
Even with the championship lead and Mercedes’ dominance, Antonelli made it clear that the work continues. The Italian stated that he intends to focus on evolution to avoid new problems in the next races: “I need to keep working on this area,” concluded the championship leader, reinforcing that despite Mercedes’ perfect start, there are still areas to be adjusted to maintain the advantage throughout the season.
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