Kimi Antonelli returns to the Italian Grand Prix this weekend armed with a 59-point lead within the drivers’ championship and a totally completely different mindset to his troublesome house race debut in 2025.
In 2025, he suffered a messy race at Monza, during which he was handed a five-second penalty for a conflict with Williams’s Alex Albon and proven a black-and-white flag for monitor limits, earlier than choosing up two factors with a ninth-place end.
A 12 months later, the Mercedes driver, who turned 20 final week, will arrive at Monza as the present chief of the Method 1 standings with six grand prix wins underneath his belt to this point this season.
Whereas talking to F1.com forward of his house race, the Italian defined that he was going into the race weekend with a “completely different perspective”.
“I am very excited. I believe it should be a terrific environment and it should be loads completely different in comparison with final 12 months,” he stated. “I am undoubtedly stepping into with a special perspective, completely different mindset, and undoubtedly I really feel like I am going to have the ability to benefit from the weekend much more. I am actually wanting ahead to be again.”
Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Picture by: Eric Le Galliot
Mercedes workforce principal Toto Wolff confirmed throughout the Dutch Grand Prix weekend that Antonelli would take a grid penalty for his house race as a consequence of a deliberate energy unit change. The precise penalty is but to be confirmed as a result of its severity depends upon what number of new energy unit elements the Brackley outfit installs on Antonelli’s automobile, however it is going to be a minimal of 10 locations.
“With Kimi, we’re taking the total factor. Our calculations say that that is one of the best monitor to take it,” Wolff defined.
“Clearly, algorithms do not take their nationality into consideration. We’re right here to struggle for a championship and never get essentially the most PR. So yeah, that is what we will do.”
The Italian Grand Prix will happen at Monza from 4-6 September.
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