Antonelli expects Mercedes to face more competition in Miami as he opens up on plan to fix ‘fundamental’ start issue

Kimi Antonelli is braced for Mercedes’ rivals to pose more of a threat as the 2026 F1 season resumes at the Miami International Autodrome, with a host of teams set to unleash upgrades and regulation changes also coming into play.

Antonelli arrives in Florida at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings on 72 points, nine clear of team mate George Russell – the latter winning the first round of the campaign in Australia, and the former triumphing in China and Japan.

Offering his thoughts before F1 cars hit the track again, Antonelli said: “It’s very exciting to be back in a place where I got my first Sprint pole last year. Of course, it’s going to be different this year, different cars, so we’ll see how that goes.

“It’s going to be a very interesting weekend for us. Let’s see how we do. For sure, they’re [our rivals] going to get closer, and we might have to fight quite a bit more this weekend, but we’ll do our best and we’re going to keep our heads down.

“On my side, I’m going to try to maximise the performance in the car, I’m going to do my best, and we’ll see what the result will be.”

While Antonelli currently leads the way in terms of points, one area he has been tasked with improving by team boss Toto Wolff moving forward is his race starts, having lost a handful of places on the opening lap over the first three Grands Prix.

Asked if he has been able to work on improvements during the break, and whether the situation will be any better in Miami, Antonelli pointed to a “fundamental” problem that could take more time to fully resolve.

“We’ve been doing some practice starts, of course, in the break,” he commented. “I’ve been working with the team to try and recognise the issue and we seem to have found it. Now we’re trying to think about a solution as soon as possible.

“We know what to work on for the solution. It’s not going to be that straightforward, because it’s a decent change on the clutch paddle, a little on the hand positioning as well. We’re doing our best to find that solution as soon as possible in order to do decent starts.

“Definitely we recognise that my issue was much more fundamental. We’ll see in Miami if we can do a step forward, and then we have another break after Miami, so more time to work on it and to find that solution.”

Making his comments in Thursday’s driver press conference, Antonelli also faced questions about his relationship with team mate Russell, and how Mercedes are managing another potential intra-team scrap for the title – having previously overseen battles between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

“I think the team have been very clear with us since the first race in Australia,” said Antonelli. “They said we can race each other, but obviously with respect, not doing any stupid things between each other.

“At the end of the day… We race for each other, we want to win, we want to be the best, but at the same time we want the best for the team as well. Me and George are very well aware that we can race each other, but with respect, and without trying to do any stupid things.

“The team has given us the green light, because they want to give both of us the same opportunity. They said we can race each other, but just be clean.”

Antonelli and the rest of the field will swap media duties for driving when the season officially resumes on Friday – Free Practice 1 for the Miami Sprint weekend due to begin at 1200 local time.