SILVERSTONE, England — Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli said his difficult weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix ultimately strengthened his belief that he can win the 2026 world title after recovering from a series of setbacks to finish third.
Antonelli looked set to dominate the Spielberg weekend after topping two practice sessions and briefly holding provisional pole position. However, the 19-year-old Mercedes driver abandoned his final qualifying lap after believing double yellow flags had been displayed following Max Verstappen’s crash, only to discover that single yellow flags had been shown. Teammate George Russell correctly continued his lap and secured pole position, leaving Antonelli fourth on the grid.
An aggressive attempt to recover places at the start backfired as Antonelli ran off the circuit three times during the opening two laps, dropping to fifth before mounting a determined comeback. He eventually finished third, just 1.9 seconds behind Russell and only three-tenths behind runner-up Verstappen.
“That’s why it’s important to make the best out of every opportunity and try to maximise every result,” Antonelli said ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix. “Of course, it was not a great weekend because a lot of things didn’t go well, but at the end of the day, this is also part of the learning. It’s all experience.”
“If the bad weekend has to go that way, I would put a great signature on it because we were still in P3. We still had a strong second half of the race.”
Antonelli said the recovery reinforced his confidence that he and Mercedes can still deliver competitive results even when circumstances do not go their way.
“It just gave me that extra confidence that even when things don’t look good, together with the team we can still pull a great result and a great performance,” he said. “The performance is there, the pace is there. It’s about making sure every weekend I put things together and maximise every session.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff expressed confidence that Antonelli would learn from the mistakes that complicated his race in Austria, much as he has eliminated many of the costly errors that marked his rookie campaign in 2025.
Antonelli agreed that the opening laps ultimately shaped the outcome of the race.
“In Austria, we had the best pace overall,” he said. “The way we came back after that was good, but it was just not enough.”
“The first two laps, losing track position to Max, that was not ideal. I also struggled quite a lot with the brakes throughout the first stint. I was able to drive around it for the rest of the race, but I was really struggling to attack braking.”
He believes maintaining position behind Russell rather than falling behind Verstappen could have significantly altered the result.
“For sure, the two laps and losing position to Max really changed the course of the race,” Antonelli said. “If I would have kept position, probably it would have been another story, but it didn’t happen.”
“I need to make sure that if the same situation happens, I stay a bit calmer and try to build from there, using the pace wisely.”
Antonelli arrives at Silverstone holding a 40-point lead over Russell in the championship, completing a remarkable turnaround after finishing 169 points behind his teammate during his rookie season.
“For sure I did not expect such a strong start,” Antonelli said. “But obviously I’m not complaining at all. I’m just going to try to keep it rolling and keep raising the bar.”
“Of course, there’s a bit of higher pressure, but I think it’s a great opportunity to shine when pressure comes. I’m just going to focus race by race, not worrying about the championship or anything else. I’ll just try to do my best, and then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the year.”
