Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli was content with the outcome of his first ever race in Malaysia, as the 2026 F1 championship leader secured a strong second place, appearing almost ready to challenge eventual winner Max Verstappen for P1.
The mixed conditions didn’t stop Kimi Antonelli from taking an early lead in 2026 F1 Malaysia race
Qualifying was not an easy feat for the Italian driver, as his quest for pole position stopped him in P4, half a second from polesitter Verstappen. On Sunday, following the weather delays, the Mercedes man had a good start, which allowed him to take provisional P1 as the field was split between drivers on different tyre strategies and compounds. Having started 3rd, he breezed past the Dutchman, and Hamilton on was on dry tyres.
Ultimately, Red Bull’s pace proved once again much better at Sepang, with Verstappen attempting his first move on Lap 8. The Dutchman, at that time stopped by the yellow flags caused by Valtteri Bottas’s spin, completed the overtake right after the green flag on Lap 13, with Antonelli dropping to 3rd as Russell got him into Turns 5 and 6.
In spite of some lack of feeling with the recently upgraded W17, he was ultimately able to remain in P2 once he passed his teammate on Lap 21, solidly staying there until the end, aside from almost accidentally ending up on pit road at one stage.
Overall, Antonelli declared himself satisfied with his first F1 weekend in Malaysia, as he mentioned after the end of the race the slight discomfort experienced with his challenger.
”I think today was the maximum we could have done. Of course, massive congrats to Max and Red Bull for the incredible weekend. On our side, a lot of work to do. We’ve been struggling a bit more than usual, but still really happy to come away with P2.”
The upgrade package didn’t work as anticipated in Malaysia
Antonelli went into further details about the issues he experienced and the the great performance displayed by Verstappen in the press conference, highlighting the stress the peculiar track surface, combined with the humidity and the high temperatures, put on his Mercedes car.
“Max has been very, very quick all weekend. Red Bull, they’ve been doing a great job, and we’ve just been struggling more than previous races. I think we’re still trying to understand the new package because also this track, with such a rough tarmac and high temperatures, it made our life more difficult.”
Aware of the learning curve needed to become acquainted with any new introduction to a challenger, the young Italian has more hopes for the upcoming Singapore round. In fact, having the data from an entire racing weekend will be of great aid in understanding how to get the W17 working better with the upgrades at Marina Bay. It is also a Sprint weekend.
“Probably next week in Singapore, we hopefully will have a better read on the package and also understanding what set-up needs to be run. But today, with the pace we had, P2 was the maximum we could have achieved.”
Much work to do for Mercedes
Asked on whether he believes the not recently repaved track surface has not allowed Mercedes to unlock the complete potential of its latest modification to their cars, Antonelli was unsure. In fact, both he and teammate George Russell have encountered issues similar issues previously. In Zandvoort, Lando Norris was way quicker, with Ferrari arguably faster as well despite only finishing P4 and P5 that day.
“That’s the question we need to answer because we don’t really know if it made us go faster or worse. Fair to say, this season, whenever we went on really old tarmacs, we’ve struggled. For example, in Zandvoort, McLaren was much quicker than us, especially on the older tarmac. So I think maybe it’s just a question, maybe it’s just a fact that the tarmac is just very old and that for the tyres it’s very, very hard, and maybe we just struggle on this kind of tarmac.
“But, of course, the track and the tarmac made our life difficult in understanding whether it made us improve or not. I’m sure the team, has a lot of data, especially after this weekend, and I’m sure for Singapore we will come with a much, much better view on the package and hopefully we can extract the full potential out of it.”
Kimi Antonelli is looking forward to yet another chance toextend his consistent championship lead of eighty-four points over teammate Russell at the Sinagpore GP.
