Ahead of the 2026 F1 British GP, Kimi Antonelli discussed his championship battle and difficulties he faced last weekend at the Austrian GP. The Mercedes driver also touched on his season as a whole, as well as how he has been able to keep so consistent despite the problems he has experienced.
Antonelli on leading the 2026 F1 Drivers’ Championship
Kimi Antonelli made history becoming the youngest championship leader in F1 following his win in Japan. The 19-year old overtook his teammate George Russell to lead the 2026 Drivers’ Champioship. Russell returned to P2 and took 10 points out of Antonelli’s lead after winning the 2026 Austrian GP.
During a print media session at the 2026 British GP, Antonelli discussed how he is coping with the pressure of being hunted for the top spot in the F1 championship battle.
“Yes, for sure I did not expect such a strong start to the season. But obviously I’m not complaining at all, and I’m just going to try to keep it rolling. Keep raising the bar and of course there’s a bit of higher pressure. But I think it’s a great opportunity to shine when pressure comes.
“But of course, I’m just going to try to focus race by race. Don’t try to drive worrying about the championship or anything else. Just try to do my best and then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the year.”
Antonelli discusses a tricky 2026 Austrian GP
Kimi Antonelli suffered a disappointing 2026 Austrian GP after making several mistakes in the first few laps. He ran wide three times, eventually losing position to Max Verstappen.
The Italian also dealt with brake issues during the first stint which damaged his race pace. Antonelli missed out on P2 by just three tenths of a second after finding pace in the last two stints of the race. He was the fastest driver on the hard tyre.
During media day at the F1 British GP, Antonelli reflected on the Austrian event, as well as what he’s learned from the mistakes he made.
“I think in Austria we had the best pace overall, also because the second and third stint were really strong. The way we came back after that was good, but it was just not enough. Obviously, I arrived a bit too late to the party. But obviously the first two laps were [..] losing track position to Max, that was not ideal.
“Also, I struggled quite a lot with the brakes throughout the first stint. I was able to kind of drive around it for the rest of the race, but I was really struggling to attack braking. And also with that I lost quite a bit of time. But for sure the two laps and losing position to Max really changed the course of the race. If I would have kept position, probably it would have been another story, but it didn’t happen.
“So I need to make sure that if the same situation happens, I just try to stay a bit more calm and try to build from there. And just try to use the pace, but wisely.”
Kimi Antonelli reflects on his tough weekend at the 2026 Austrian GP
While Kimi Antonelli suffered a relatively tricky weekend at the 2026 Austrian GP, he also finished on the podium. He scored 15 points to add to his championship tally. Austria was the 19-year olds worst qualifying result of the season, lining up P4 on the grid.
Ahead of the 2026 F1 British GP, Antonelli discussed how he looks at his result last weekend. Stating that “even when things don’t look towards going my way, still together with the team, we can still pull a great result.
“For sure. That’s why it’s important to make the best out of every opportunity, try to maximise every result. Of course it was not a great weekend, because a lot of things didn’t go well. But at the end of the day it’s also part of the learning.
“It’s all experience, and yeah, I mean, if the bad weekend starts to go that way, I would put a great signature on it, because it was still P3. It was still a strong second half of the race, so yeah, it just gave me that extra more confidence that even when things don’t look going towards my way, still together with the team we can still pull a great result and a great performance.
“It’s just more about putting, like I said many times last year, but it’s a lot about now, as the performance is there, the pace is there, it’s about just making sure that every weekend I put things together and I maximise every session.”
Antonelli on his consistency during the 2026 F1 season keeping him P1 in the Drivers’ Championship
Kimi Antonelli has won 5 out of 8 races in the 2026 F1 season. He has finished on the podium for 7 of those races. His only result off of the podium came from a DNF after his Mercedes broke down during the Barcelona-Catalunya GP.
During the last stint of the 2026 Austrian GP, Antonelli had great race pace and was able to achieve the fastest lap.
Ahead of the F1 British GP, the Mercedes driver discussed how he has been able to achieve such consistent race pace during the 2026 season, consistently having an edge on George Russell.
“Yeah for sure, I mean I think my race pace has been stronger this year.
“Qualifying has been a good step compared to last year. But still sometimes I don’t put things together, especially with tyres. For example in Barcelona I was just trying to extract too much out of the tyre and ended up for the second half of the lap just having nothing left and no grip.
“In Spielberg actually it was the other way around. I didn’t extract enough in Q3, it was a big step in track evolution and the grip was just a lot higher and in that occasion I just underdelivered. So it’s a lot about experience as well.
“I think now that I’ve lived through these moments, I think if they were repeated I would be able to cope with that better.
“But coming back to your question about race pace, of course in Barcelona and Spielberg, even though I wasn’t starting in P1 at the front, I was still confident that with the race pace I could have gained positions. So definitely it’s been a strong point of mine which I’m keen to keep and develop.
Working on qualifying
“But at the same time I just also think qualifying, I just want to make sure that in every condition I’m able to extract the maximum out of it. Even when the car is not feeling perfect or the conditions are a bit more difficult.”
