boss Toto Wolff has relieved any accountability from Kimi Antonelli after yet one more poor race begin for the Components 1 championship chief throughout the Miami Grand Prix dash.
The Mercedes driver dropped from second to fourth on lap one, that means he’s now misplaced 20 positions at race begin throughout the opening three grands prix and two sprints of 2026.
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Antonelli in the end crossed the Miami end line in fourth, however dropped to sixth post-race following a five-second monitor limits penalty, handing fourth to team-mate and fifth to Purple Bull’s .
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It marked the primary time Mercedes has didn’t win this 12 months after it didn’t carry many updates to Miami, in comparison with closely upgraded vehicles for and who made up the rostrum.
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Wolff informed Sky Sports activities: “We knew that we’re a bit of bit out of sync with our upgrades which might be coming from [the next round in] Montreal.
“However we had been hoping that we would be able to maintain on now when it comes to fewer lap instances we do. However clearly you probably have such a nasty getaway, which wasn’t in any respect Kimi’s fault, it was a glitch on our aspect – it is tough.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
The poor getaway got here regardless of Antonelli actually working arduous throughout the April break to enhance upon his lap one fortunes, which had threatened to plague his in any other case profitable begin to 2026 with victories in China and Japan.
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Antonelli informed Sky Sports activities: “We have been doing work over the break and on my aspect for as soon as I did every part proper with the procedures, so we have to examine what occurred.
“The grip was very low, most likely decrease than we anticipated after which after that I used to be actually annoyed, I did not even drive properly, I did a whole lot of errors.
“I received monitor limits which is one thing that I have to keep away from, however this weekend positively has been harder, however was anticipated with everybody bringing large upgrades. We’ve simply received to attempt to maximise the end result and deal with qualifying.”
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The 19-year-old now leads the championship by seven factors over Russell with third-placed 20 off the highest, after he accomplished the rostrum behind McLaren’s and within the dash race.
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