Kimi Antonelli’s momentum has rather stalled in recent races, but he’s not entirely to blame. The Mercedes rookie hasn’t scored since the Miami GP.
Antonelli became F1’s youngest-ever pole-sitter when he set the pace in Miami Sprint qualifying. He went on to bag a career-best P3 on the Sunday grid.
But two weeks later at Imola, his home race, Antonelli suffered a Q2 exit. The feeling was that he was overwhelmed by the publicity.
He retired from the race due to a throttle failure, and the second leg of the triple-header was no better. A crash during Q2 in Monaco took him out of contention for the points, and he eventually finished a miserable 18th.
The Italian was on course to end his mini-drought in Spain last weekend, but another failure in the closing stages of the race ended his afternoon. He’s now closer to Alex Albon behind (six points) than Lewis Hamilton ahead (23).
Karun Chandhok said Isack Hadjar has outperformed Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes weren’t happy
Speaking on Sky Sports’ ‘F1 Show’ podcast, Karun Chandhok said Antonelli had broadly met his expectations so far. Mercedes see him as a generational talent, which is why they backed him to replace Hamilton.
His single-lap performance in Miami justified that hype, as did his charge from 16th to fourth on his debut in Australia, where the rain caught out many experienced drivers.
However, he clearly remains raw. Across all competitive sessions, George Russell leads the Mercedes head-to-head 17-2.
Chandhok feels Isack Hadjar, who’s scored 21 points in his first eight races for Racing Bulls and sits P9 in the championship, has been the more impressive rookie. But Mercedes weren’t happy with that take.
“He’s having the classic rookie season for a driver who’s highly skilled and talented,” the former F1 driver said. “There are a lot of signs that he’s going to be great, he’s going to be around for a long time, he’s going to be a race-winner when the car is competitive.
“But he’s having those rookie moments as well, isn’t he? He’s having the odd weekend where he’s a bigger margin away from George than he would like, but then you think of weekends like Miami where he was ahead of George all weekend, which shows that potential.
“I think overall, he’s having a good year. He should be happy with the year he’s having and Mercedes should be happy with the year he’s having.
On Hadjar, he added: “He’s been the standout rookie. I’ve had people from Mercedes text me saying, ‘Oy, what you are talking about?’ when I say Isack Hadjar’s been the standout rookie. But I stand by it.”
Valtteri Bottas has just explained why Max Verstappen won’t replace Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes
Hadjar has five Q3 appearances to his name already, just one fewer than Antonelli, even though he’s in a considerably slower car. He’s also shown impressive consistency, only once starting/finishing outside the top 12.
Both Mercedes drivers are out of contract at the end of the season. And former Haas boss Guenther Steiner could ‘easily’ see Max Verstappen replacing Antonelli for 2026.
Toto Wolff holds an ongoing interest in the four-time world champion, a stance that hasn’t changed even after his highly controversial collision with Russell in Spain.
However, reserve driver Valtteri Bottas says Mercedes see Antonelli as the future. Therefore, Russell is the driver who’s at risk, even if a change is unlikely.
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