{"id":904626,"date":"2026-09-25T05:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T05:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/904626\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T05:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T05:52:09","slug":"kimi-antonelli-warned-title-pressure-could-take-its-toll-in-f1-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/904626\/","title":{"rendered":"Kimi Antonelli warned title pressure could take its toll in F1 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seemingly unfazed by the pressure of leading the championship, Kimi Antonelli<\/a> has been warned it could take its toll as the season progresses.<\/p>\n

Antonelli has been the breakout star of the F1 2026 season, with the Italian closing in on a first world title after claiming his eighth Grand Prix win.<\/p>\n

Kimi Antonelli warned about pressure in F1 2026 title fight<\/p>\n

The Mercedes driver extended his lead over his teammate George Russell to 81 points, but with a maximum of 233 points in play, the title fight is by no means decided.<\/p>\n

One DNF for Antonelli<\/a>, whether through a crash or a reliability failure, such as his hydraulic issue that cut short his running in Thursday\u2019s opening practice in Baku, could open the door for Russell.<\/p>\n

Although that would potentially only be a 25-point swing, it would ramp up the pressure on Antonelli.<\/p>\n

And that, says three-time W-Series winner Jamie Chadwick, could take a toll on the 20-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s always pressure,\u201d Chadwick told Sky Sports in Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the start of the year when you\u2019re talking about being the championship favourite \u2013 that weight was on George\u2019s shoulders more \u2013 to then throughout the year \u2018can you hold it?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is something Kimi has dealt with very well this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t seem to be so fazed about the pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that has helped him as he is driving free still. He is able to be confident and carry the momentum that he has got from that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it does get at you.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point it\u2019s going to come down to the finish point and if he continues the way he is, of course, he\u2019s going to walk away with it \u2013 but there are still many races to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it gets right down to the wire, that\u2019s where pressure will ramp up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kimi Antonelli v George Russell: Mercedes F1 2026 scores<\/p>\n

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n

However, former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer doesn\u2019t believe Antonelli would crack.<\/p>\n

He cited Antonelli\u2019s improvement from last season, when he went through a mid-year slump, to this year, where he has won four Grands Prix since the European season began in Monaco, as why he doesn\u2019t foresee it happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cZero sign. Absolutely zero sign,\u201d he told the F1 Nation podcast when asked if there were any signs that Antonelli was feeling pressure. \u201cHe\u2019s not racing like he\u2019s fighting for a championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when you look at the way that he\u2019s fighting with Lando at the start of the [Spanish Grand Prix], he\u2019s still bombing it over those chicanes, trying to win the race, not trying to settle in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of poetic, isn\u2019t it?\u201d he continued. \u201cThe European summer last year left him on the cusp of potentially losing his seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cFast forward 12 months and the European summer has pretty much left him on the cusp of being a champion. You can\u2019t have too big a paradox for him. It\u2019s been unbelievable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s driving with such confidence. He\u2019s just showcasing his amazing talent now. And the consistency of it once again is what continues to impress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read Next:\u00a0Russell dominates Baku FP2 as Hamilton faces impeding investigation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seemingly unfazed by the pressure of leading the championship, Kimi Antonelli has been warned it could take its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":904627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,818,10115,945,44,85],"class_list":["post-904626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-mercedes","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}