Maturity, expertise, self-belief – The keys to Kimi Antonelli’s new F1 stage

Mercedes deputy workforce principal Bradley Lord has given a number of causes behind Kimi Antonelli’s rise right into a Formulation 1 title contender this season.

Antonelli endured a tricky rookie marketing campaign final 12 months as F1’s third-youngest driver in historical past, having bypassed F3 to spend only one 12 months in F2 earlier than becoming a member of one of the vital profitable groups on this planet championship – courtesy of Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes for Ferrari.

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The Italian teen was vastly outperformed by team-mate George Russell however has reversed that dynamic as F1 switched to new technical rules – to the extent that he is main the 2026 drivers’ standings on the summer season break, having gained six out of 11 grands prix, together with 5 in a row.

“I have been requested just a few instances if I would been stunned,” Lord commented. “And I assume no and sure is the reply.

Bradley Lord, Deputy Crew Principal, Mercedes AMG F1 Crew

“We signed Kimi and we took the choice to carry Kimi into the workforce as a result of we believed in his potential. Nevertheless it’s additionally simple to see a driver in simply his second season in Formulation 1 performing with a lot consistency and with an actual, calm maturity is extremely spectacular.

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“By way of that tough first season, it is virtually like he managed to do a number of seasons’ price of studying in a single, after which that is all consolidated over the winter.

“I am certain there’s additionally to some extent the reset issue of recent rules, meaning each driver is on a steep studying curve with new vehicles and new energy items and that appears over the sphere to have seen a re-balancing between newer drivers within the sport and older drivers as effectively within the groups the place you possibly can see these pairings.

“Kimi’s clearly finished and continues to do an unbelievable job, and also you see his confidence and his self-confidence constructing from weekend to weekend, not in a manner that he is getting carried away with something, his toes are very firmly on the bottom and saved very firmly on the bottom by his household and contained in the workforce as effectively. You may simply see his self-belief rising and that is actually, actually spectacular.”

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Increasing on how Antonelli bounced again from that tough 2025 season, Lord continued: “I believe he discovered the strategy that labored for him as a way to get probably the most from the workforce, perceive the trouble that’s wanted forward of the weekend as a way to arrive ready – as a result of monitor time is such a scarce and helpful commodity, significantly in a calendar the place we’re seeing ever extra dash races, and subsequently it is an FP1 and then you definately’re straight right into a timed session, a aggressive session and such moderately than a free follow session.

Kimi Antonelli, Peter Bonnington

“It was a extremely helpful reset round Baku time for him to actually redouble his efforts with Bono [race engineer Peter Bonnington] and the remainder of the workforce round him, with the regularity of the visits to the sim and the depth and depth of the work there, for him to see the chance that was there for him to seize and to take. And he is taking it with each palms.”

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What additionally contributed to this upturn was Mercedes’ strategy to shelter Antonelli from stress and media frenzy as a lot as doable, with classes discovered from a 2024 Monza FP1 outing the place the very eager teen crashed the F1 automotive on his first flying lap – he positively wasn’t holding again.

“We have been very cautious and really even handed with how we have tried to assist Kimi’s introduction to Formulation 1,” Lord added. “It is an enormous step for any driver, significantly with the expectation that comes with driving for Mercedes, and so serving to him not be overworked and overloaded with advertising and marketing commitments or PR stuff on the monitor and different occasions however managing that in as easy a manner as doable.

“We regularly say to the drivers, ‘Look, we will not make you quicker with these things, but when we get it flawed we will positively gradual you down’.”

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Nonetheless, when it was urged {that a} youthful Antonelli may need been ‘extra adaptable’ than Russell to get probably the most of F1’s new equipment, Lord swiftly dismissed that view.

“No, I do not suppose both of the drivers has been set of their methods or something aside from fully open-minded about how you can get the perfect out of those vehicles,” he insisted. “The power to adapt and to be agile and versatile is all the time a key power of any high driver, and each Kimi and George have that capacity and functionality as effectively.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, George Russell, Mercedes

“These are vehicles the place – and it is a system the place you may get a bit bit misplaced generally in among the complexities of it – the enter and the recommendation has been simply to maintain it easy, consider the driving, getting the tyres in the fitting place, doing the bits that each racing driver all the time must do effectively and the programs, then do the training they should do and assist and ship in an optimum manner as effectively.

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“Clearly when issues aren’t fairly working proper, that may get fairly advanced and fairly sophisticated, however I believe Kimi’s been in a position to strip away numerous the noise really and actually concentrate on the necessities, concentrate on the core elements of what he must do, after which that creates the house for the engineers to concentrate on the set-up and the optimisation of all the opposite programs as effectively, so it has been a extremely good steadiness of effort between these various things.”

Extra reporting by Oleg Karpov and Roberto Chinchero

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