This weekend the F1 grid is back on track; talking ahead of the 2026 Australian GP, Mercedes’s Kimi Antonelli shared his thoughts regarding the energy-demanding track in Melbourne.
A step into the unknown – Antonelli predicts chaos from lap 1
The Grand Prix held at at Albert Park is notoriously a dramatic one. Mercedes-AMG Petronas had a strong pre-season testing in Bahrain, finishing the testing runs with solid results. However, this weekend the teams will step into the unknown. The drivers have practiced with the simulator and collected data the past months – however nothing compares to actual racing.
“Yeah, I mean, we’ve been trying to cover all scenarios on the simulator, even though some of them are difficult because until you experience them for the first time on track, you know, you can try to create a scenario that could be possible, but of course then when it happens in the moment, it’s always a little bit different, but I think it’s going to be an interesting weekend,” Antonelli shared.
“Definitely, this track is so energy-hungry that the overtake mode is incredibly powerful and that can give a bit of chaos, lap one especially, especially if everyone jumps on the overtake mode, and yeah, we could see some interesting things.”
Antonelli shared his concerns regarding the starts
“Well, I think straight-line modes, even in the relocating, shouldn’t be a problem because as it’s called axle, so front and rear,” Antonelli explained. “It actually balances quite a bit, so if you just have less load, but you should still be fine, but still getting the timing right, building the boost in the right moment, it’s still going to be crucial, because if you don’t do so, then you can have a really bad start. And especially looking at Ferrari, they look in a very, very strong place on that side.
“So yeah, it’s going to be important to obviously keep working, because in Bahrain we did struggle a bit on that side, obviously we worked a lot and improved it. But I think still needs a little bit of work to get to Ferrari, but then, we don’t know, maybe in Australia in the first race on Sunday we’re going to have a mega start, you never know, but I think this race can be a bit of chaos.”
Why this energy-demanding F1 track will challenge the teams strategies at the 2026 Australian GP
The Italian had shared previously his fondness of the track, as it provides spectacular moves. As other F1 drivers voiced their concerns, Mercedes’s Antonelli was then asked to reason his view ahead the Australian GP.
“Well, I think, I’m not going to lie, to follow is not easy, but I say this because this track is so demanding on energy, that the overtake mode can give you 6 tenths in one straight, over the current track, it can give you up to even 8 tenths.
“And also, there are places where if you deploy full battery, obviously it’s not maybe efficient, if you look at the lap time optimum, but it can be a place where the other car is not deploying and saving battery, and if you press the overtake too soon, you gain basically 400 horsepower, compared to an optimum lap, and you can gain massive amount of lap time, and you can make a move in a corner where the other one doesn’t expect.
“Of course, when I talk about this, it’s more start of the race, safety car restart, and even last lap, obviously you’re in a scenario where the cars are close to each other, and of course, during the course of the race, when it’s destabilised, of course it’s going to be a bit more difficult as well.”
Antonelli on the challenging difference of the F1 Australian GP track layout
“I say this because obviously in Bahrain it was more difficult, but Bahrain is also a much more straightforward and much better on energy side track, you know, you have barely any superclips,” the Italian driver explained about the different challenges in energy.
“Here you have incredible amount of superclips, so you just go down and go straight, and the overtake is extremely powerful because you don’t superclip, so the speed, it either stabilises or keeps increasing.
“So that’s why the difference is going to be really big in this track. But of course, let’s see, I think, you know, in the first stage of the race, you can give a lot of spectacular moves, and eventually some kills.”
Antonelli advised to take new energy management into account
Ahead the start of the F1 2026 campaign, Mercedes driver Antonelli shared his thoughts comparing Bahrain testing to the Australian GP.
“Yeah, I mean, I agree in Bahrain was very little, the overtake game, but also in the track where you deploy quite a lot on a straight, and you don’t really supercharge. In a track like this, as I said before, it’s very energy hungry, it’s a lot different, of course when I said that you can gain a lot with the overtake, at the same time you can lose an awful amount of time as well in the next straight.
“So it’s about the way you use it, you need to use it wisely, because a track like this, there’s a lot of straights, one after each other, it’s going to be important to use it in the best way possible, because of course, if you use it all in one straight, but then the next straight they’re going to remove your action, but of course you need to use it in the right way.”
