Kimi Antonelli delivered a significant performance at the 2026 Australian F1 GP. The Italian driver secured his first podium of the season with a second-place finish at Albert Park Circuit. While his teammate George Russell took the victory from pole position, Antonelli was forced to fight his way back through the field following a difficult start.
After qualifying on the front row, Antonelli’s afternoon became a test of resilience. He overcame technical and tactical hurdles to secure a Mercedes 1-2 finish.
Antonelli battles tyre complications at the 2026 Australian GP
During the post-race press conference, Antonelli discussed his confidence during such an intense race. He admitted that while he was initially unsure of the outcome, the pace of the Mercedes was very strong.
Antonelli noted that the Mercedes felt exceptionally strong during the opening stint of the Australian GP. This provided him with the confidence needed to begin his recovery through the field.
However, the transition to the hard tyres introduced a significant challenge. Antonelli explained that he experienced graining on the hards very early on, leading to a difficult period where he struggled to maintain his momentum.
Despite these mid-race complications, the pace eventually returned. This allowed him to secure his position behind his teammate.
“Well, I didn’t really know, to be fair, but obviously the pace of the car was very strong and the pace was strong too. I felt very, very good in the first stint. Then on the Hards, I started to grain very early on and had a bit of a difficult time, but then, you know, at the end the pace came back.”
Reclaiming ground after technical setbacks for Antonelli
When addressing the start of the race, the Italian driver described it as a “game changer” that added immense pressure to his afternoon.
The stress began as early as the formation lap, where he reported a lack of power exiting the final corner. He noted that the car was not responding to his inputs entirely, creating uncertainty just moments before the lights went out.
This technical hurdle contributed to a poor start. Antonelli endured significant wheel spin off the line, causing him to lose several places immediately and drop to seventh position at the 2026 Australian GP.
He remarked that this forced him into a chasing role for the remainder of the race, relying on the pace of the car to fight through the field at the 2026 Australian GP.
“But of course, the start was a game changer. 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.”
Antonelli credits the Mercedes‘ mechanics
Antonelli concluded his reflection of the weekend at the 2026 Australian GP by shifting the credit to the Mercedes F1 engineering team. He emphasised that the successful 1-2 finish was largely due to the “incredible job” performed by the mechanics, who worked extensively on the car following his crash in FP3 on Saturday.
The team is now focused on the upcoming 2026 F1 Chinese GP.
“But the car was very strong. It was good fun at the end, and yeah, the team did an incredible job because I think the result of today was thanks as well, you know, mainly to the mechanics for the incredible job they did yesterday after FP3. So yeah, definitely it was a good end of the weekend and now we will focus on China.”
