Kimi Antonelli begins his 2026 F1 season with a strong P2 qualifying result in a Mercedes front-row lockout for the Australian GP.
The Italian’s weekend began with promise as he improved across FP1 and FP2, going from P8 to P2. Later, FP3 saw him claim P7, although he suffered a major crash that brought out the red flags. As Antonelli began his quick lap, he lost control of the car at Turn 2 and crashed into the barriers, leaving his Mercedes W17 car with heavy damage.
In qualifying, the young driver secured provisional pole in the final minutes of the session, before his teammate, George Russell, went 0.293 seconds faster to take P1.
Antonelli: “the mechanics were the heroes today”
Speaking in the 2026 F1 Australian GP post-qualifying press conference, Antonelli praised the Mercedes mechanics for their hard work that led to his outstanding comeback.
“Yeah, it was a very intense day. But the mechanics were the heroes today. Massive thanks to them because they allowed me to be back on track,” he said before explaining how Max Verstappen’s Q1 crash allowed the team to finish the repairs and send Antonelli out on track.
“It was very intense, I was very nervous, very stressed going into the session because at one point it looked like I couldn’t make it. But then obviously we were lucky with the red flag as well, that it allowed us to buy a bit more time. But yeah, it was tricky. We couldn’t even set up the car, we just went out of the garage and yeah, at the end obviously we were still able to be on the front row. But yeah, this is thanks to the mechanics, of course.”
Qualifying thrill
Despite saying he couldn’t set up the car, the Mercedes driver found superb pace in qualifying. Once he was able to leave the pits for his first Q1 flying lap, Antonelli immediately jumped to P3, before ultimately finishing Q1 in P6. Later, after claiming P3 in Q2, Antonelli briefly ran into Q3 trouble when he went off into the gravel. However, he bounced back quickly to take provisional pole and then a final P2 result.
“Well, I had a bad lap one in Q3,” he noted. “Obviously, I locked up into Turn 3 and went off, so just put myself a bit more under pressure. And yeah, just tried to have a clean lap. Of course, luckily, we have a really good car. The team has done an incredible job to give us such a good car. I just did a clean lap, and it was still good enough for P2. Of course, George did an amazing job, but yeah, now looking forward to tomorrow.”
Mercedes W17 performance
When further asked about the performance and feel of the car under the new 2026 F1 regulation changes, Antonelli explained:
“Of course, it’s the best I could have asked for. We have a really good car and we look very, very competitive. That is because the team has done an incredible job on the engine side, but as well on the chassis side. I think the car, as George said, many people just talk about the engine, but the car itself is really, really strong. So I think we’re in a very good position and yeah, looking forward to tomorrow.”
He continued: “But the car, to be fair, especially in these conditions when they’re lighter, is super fun to drive. It’s much more agile, the car is much better through the low speed, the ride is much better. Obviously, you’re lacking a little bit of high-speed downforce, but that’s going to come. I mean, we’re only at the first race of the new regulations. Then of course on the PU side, there’s a lot to learn. It’s very tricky on a track like this, but it’s part of the game.”
With a Mercedes front-row lockout for Sunday’s 2026 Australian GP, the team will be aiming to convert their strong qualifying pace into a double podium.
