Kimi Antonelli endured a difficult qualifying at the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP, struggling to find grip and put together a clean Q3 lap amid growing championship pressure.
The Mercedes driver had already faced challenges earlier in the weekend, missing media day due to illness. Despite having little time to recover, Antonelli showed pace across Free Practice, finishing FP1 in P2, FP2 in P4, and FP3 in P2. However, he was unable to carry that momentum into qualifying, where he struggled to find grip on his new tyres and settled for P5, 0.193s off polesitter Lewis Hamilton‘s time.
Nevertheless, following Max Verstappen’s one-place grid penalty, Antonelli will move up to P4 on the starting grid for what could be a historic race.
Antonelli admits it “hasn’t been an easy weekend”
With the 2026 Drivers’ Championship within touching distance, the 19-year-old needs to finish in the top nine to secure the title in Mexico City.
Speaking in the media pen after qualifying, Antonelli admitted that the pressure, combined with his ongoing recovery from illness, had made him feel more tense than usual.
“Yeah, yeah, it is. Still, I feel very tired to be fair. I still haven’t recovered, completely, but yeah, it hasn’t been an easy weekend to be fair. You know, definitely have been a bit more tense than usual, especially, you know, when you keep hearing wherever you go, anytime, any day, the same thing, you know. And people telling that it’s already done and, you know, knowing myself, I, you know, I’ve been trying to block as much as possible this noise, but it hasn’t been easy and definitely have been a bit more tense today.”
“But I felt decent in Q2, especially on the used tyre, but then on the Q3, on the new tyres, I struggled to put a lap together, just to find the grip. But I feel, yeah, we have a good chance tomorrow from P4, and we saved a set of new [soft] tyres, so hopefully we can use that and move forward.”
Asked about how ill he had felt on Thursday, Antonelli continued:
“Very bad, you know, I had a high fever and stomach problems, so it hasn’t been easy, but, you know, now I feel ok, just low on energy, you know, just feel pretty tired. So it’s going to be important to try and sleep well, because I haven’t been sleeping well in these days and hopefully tomorrow will be a bit more… I will have more energy.”
Eyes on race day
Starting from P4, Antonelli will have the opportunity to challenge the drivers ahead of him at the start. However, he remains cautious, aware that the long run down to Turn 1 can present both opportunities and risks.
Last year’s race demonstrated how chaotic the opening corners can be, with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc both running wide during a four-way battle for the lead.
“Yeah, of course, as always. And, you know, it’s a long run into Turn 1, so it’s just going to be important to get off the line well and hopefully, you know, we can gain a couple of places,” said Antonelli.
“Of course, we’ll have to stay out of trouble as well, because Turn 1 is always very tricky, but I think, you know, if we get a good start, we have a good chance to then, you know, move forward and I think the race pace is still not as strong as Ferrari, but I think we can still do well.”
Mistakes and low energy cost a clean Q3
After securing pole position and his 9th career win at the 2026 F1 United States GP, Antonelli was left disappointed with his Mexico City qualifying performance. Despite finishing inside the top four in all three practice sessions, the Mercedes driver admitted he had made several mistakes during his Q3 lap and felt low on energy.
“Well, I mean, it’s, you know, it’s the same as Austin and Singapore and Malaysia, so… You know, it’s just, I think, you know, today also I was playing a big factor and, but as well, you know, putting the lap together I think, I didn’t really put the lap together, I did a lot of mistakes and here and there.”
“So obviously disappointing, but we’re trying to, you know, sleep well tonight and I’m aware that definitely I haven’t been driving well, because I felt like already going into qualifying, I didn’t feel great and I felt a bit low on energy, so definitely, you know, it’s not an excuse, but for sure, you know, it hasn’t been my finest qualifying.”
Comparing his mindset in Mexico City with his previous outing in Austin, Antonelli added:
“No, Austin I wasn’t driving tense, Austin I was much more relaxed and so, yeah, definitely it’s been a thing of this week.”
Antonelli looks to reset ahead of title opportunity
Asked how he plans to switch off from the title pressure and qualifying struggles ahead of the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP, Antonelli shared:
“Well, I’m going to bombard myself with melatonin, so hopefully I will sleep, you know, a good 10 hours hopefully. So, yeah, just going to try to relax as much as possible. My family has just arrived, so it’s going to be, you know, good to have them here and, yeah, just going to try to disconnect as much as possible, go to sleep and then ready for tomorrow.”
