Antonelli outlines goal to fight for the title with youngster ‘looking forward’ to competing with Russell in 2026

Kimi Antonelli has set out his goal to “eventually fight for the World Championship” as he prepares for his second season in Formula 1, one in which he is “really looking forward” to competing against team mate George Russell.

Following on from the Barcelona Shakedown, Antonelli joined the rest of the Mercedes squad for their official launch event on Monday, just over one week before the car next hits the track during official pre-season testing in Bahrain.

While Antonelli’s F1 career is still in its early days, the Italian was quizzed on how he would feel if he and the Silver Arrows were in a position to battle for the championship in the campaign ahead.

“That’s absolutely the goal,” Antonelli responded. “The goal is to win and to eventually fight for the World Championship – that’s my goal, and the goal is to win and to be one of the best, so definitely that’s what I want.

“Of course George is very, very strong and definitely is ready to fight for a championship, and he’s one of the benchmarks on the grid. I think it’s going to be quite fun, especially competing with him, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Having gained his first experience of driving the 2026 car during the Barcelona Shakedown, Antonelli spoke positively about his experiences behind the wheel of the W17.

“I think the car, as a baseline to start with, is pretty good,” he explained. “It’s much better than expected and it’s fun to drive.

“Obviously the car being a bit smaller, you feel it – it’s more agile, especially in changes of direction and in slow-speed corners which is a nice feeling, plus we don’t have bouncing anymore which is another good thing, so you don’t have to run the car as low and you have a bit more room to play with ride heights.

“You have a bit more room to play with the set-up, to play with the car, which is super nice and super interesting as well as a driver, to also understand what compromises you can find set-up-wise.”

Antonelli also believes that the introduction of new regulations could offer a “big opportunity” on the driving side for those who can quickly adapt, but the teenager also cautioned: “On the other side, experience still counts with how you approach the year and every weekend.

“I’ve done one year in F1 and I’ve learned a lot, but this year I will have a different approach. I feel I still need to learn quite a bit. I’ve had a bit of time to reflect on last season, to understand and to analyse the weekends that went well and why they went well, and the weekends that went bad and why they went bad.

“Ahead of this year I will keep the things that helped me, but on the other hand I will change some approaches that didn’t really feel the best for me last year, to help me out, to prepare myself better and to feel better ahead of the race weekend.”

This was a sentiment echoed by Team Principal Toto Wolff, who suggested that – while he expects to see progression in Antonelli – he is not anticipating the youngster to be at the same level as Russell.

“There’s no doubt about his speed and about his race craft – he’s going into his second season, he knows all the tracks, he knows all of you guys [media], he knows all the other requirements, so I’m absolutely certain it will be a good year for him,” Wolff said of Antonelli.

“Having said that, I don’t think we should expect him to be like George all the time – George is one of the best ones, he’s been in Formula 1 a long time, he’s a benchmark, and Kimi’s 19 and he’s going into his second season. We’re going to see another step [from Kimi], that I’m certain about.”