Kimi Antonelli enters the 2026 Formula 1 season having shaken off the rookie label and plans to change his approach based on lessons learned in 2025.
The young Italian had a shaky start to his maiden season in the top flight but showed flashes of brilliance while also improving and managing three podiums in Canada, Sao Paulo, and Las Vegas.
Now, with the first week of testing in Barcelona done and dusted, Mercedes emerged as favorites as their W17 proved to be bulletproof, accumulating 500 laps between Antonelli and his teammate George Russell.With that in mind, the young Italian was asked during Mercedes’ 2026 official launch event whether he was up to fighting at the front of the grid if the 2026 Mercedes ends up being the class of the field.
He said: “That’s absolutely the goal. 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.”
However, the 19-year-old was careful with his claims, acknowledging the presence of Russell, who is the de facto team leader and a multiple race winner.
He added: “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.”
The W17 is a good baseline
Speaking about the W17, which represents a major departure from its predecessor given the massive regulation change, Antonelli said: “I think the car, as a baseline to start with, is pretty good. 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,” he explained.
With 24 grands prix under his belt, Antonelli admits he has learned a lot and plans to apply those learnings in 2026.
“I’ve done one year in F1, and I’ve learned a lot, but this year I will have a different approach,” he revealed. “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 analyze 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,” he concluded.