Antonelli: “Playing for the title with Hamilton would be huge, he knows how to do it”

A ranking not to look at “Honestly, I don’t look at the rankings”. Andrea Kimi Antonelli tries not to let himself be too distracted by a dream start to 2026 even if the first zero arrived in Barcelona two weeks ago due to a technical problem with the battery. The battery is Mercedes’ Achilles’ heel at the moment and for this reason the W17s of Antonelli and Russell in Austria will be fitted with an updated battery pack to try to stem the reliability problems that have cost them several points in the last race weekends. Mercedes is fresh from the first defeat of 2026 inflicted by the great former Lewis Hamilton who achieved the first success of his career as a Ferrari driver at Montmelò. Hamilton is Antonelli’s direct pursuer in the Drivers’ standings, there are 41 points between the two. “Playing for the championship with Hamilton would be a huge thing – said Antonelli on the eve of the weekend in Austria – Ferraris are certainly strong and will have to be taken into consideration and Russell is also very strong. I also expect that McLaren and Red Bull will get closer, it won’t be easy. If I were to be fighting with Hamilton it won’t be easy, because he already has a lot of experience, he’s already experienced moments like those and knows what he has to do. For me, however, it would all be new. However, I continue to focus on one race at a time without thinking too much about the championship.”

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-06-26 02:00:00