2026 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

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Bradley Lord on the other hand said that they just did some minor adjustments, mainly considering the front wing. They can readjust again for tomorrow to better balance the car.

[Waz]

Strange that Russell never found a set up this weekend. He had the same issue in FP2 already, losing time badly in S3.

But, congratulations to Kimi, he's matured quickly and ironing out the mistakes.

I guess lower corner speeds probably helps with that for now.

[OverheatedTurbo]

Solid job! Kimi’s gonna be a problem. I don’t like the fact that Mercedes were fiddling around GR’s setup before qualifying. Thats 2 compromised weekends in a row.

[AR3-GP]

Solid job! Kimi’s gonna be a problem. I don’t like the fact that Mercedes were fiddling around GR’s setup before qualifying. Thats 2 compromised weekends in a row.

Mercedes wasn't "fiddling with GR's setup". GR saw that Kimi Antonelli was quicker than him all weekend, and wanted the car changed again at the last minute to beat him.

There's a very strange dynamic going on at Mercedes. I noticed after China that Wolff was keen to redirect any idea of an Antonelli championship campaign. After FP3 today, Button was asking Toto whether or not Kimi's win in China gave him the confident to drive so well this weekend. Wolff's answer was that Russell actually made a mistake on his final FP3 lap and would have been up there.

Why bring up Russell when asked a question about Antonelli? Also, Antonelli was quicker on all of the runs during FP3 by 2-3 tenths, not just the final run. Antonelli was also quicker by 2 tenths in the race sims on Friday. This is the same gap as qualifying. The gap is the gap all weekend aside from a few mistakes on the soft runs by Antonelli in FP1/2.

Then after qualifying, Toto immediately went to Russell's "setup mistake", which is just covering for the guy. The bigger picture is the driver who was positioned as "lead" , was slower all weekend.

My opinion is things already start to get complicated at Mercedes. They planned for Russell to be the lead driver and win the championship while Antonelli "learns". (sensible since he has more experience). But ultimately Kimi Antonelli is too quick to play a supporting role and it will put pressure on Mercedes leadership.

This should not be surprising to anyone who followed Kimi Antonelli's career and what Mercedes was learning about him during the TPC test. In Russell's 2nd and 3rd season in F1, he was being matched by Latifi on race pace. Even the older Hamilton was exposing Russell's weakness in 2022-2024...Antonelli already had better race pace than Russell in a couple of the races last year as a rookie (Jeddah, Imola, Qatar, Mexico, Las Vegas, Brazil, etc). Antonelli was also catching Russell at the end in Australia this year, and dismissed Russell's efforts to catch him in China.

Each time people are looking for excuses to say it's not real...Sorry but if you've got 7 years in F1 and you still can't beat the allegations when you finally got a dominant car, then they're probably true. Antonelli is going to overtake Russell. It's already happening.

[Waz]

Realistically, George should have a comfortable edge over Kimi over the whole season, just on experience.

Kimi is just so utterly likeable though, it would be fun to see him challenging.

[nitrotech]

Realistically, George should have a comfortable edge over Kimi over the whole season, just on experience.

Kimi is just so utterly likeable though, it would be fun to see him challenging.

Why is that the world considers those people likeable that talk less or struggle to talk and shows an inherent lack of confidence while speaking? Why is that cute? Why does people that speak with a lot of confidence are disliked or considered arrogant? Why is this affinity so strange?
I have had situations where some of my team members rejected prospective candidates that came for interview. The reason they gave was that the candidate was ARROGANT. When i probed a little, i realised, they felt a certain inferiority complex by the candidate's highly confident behaviour. I met the candidate myself to validate this.

[OverheatedTurbo]

Solid job! Kimi’s gonna be a problem. I don’t like the fact that Mercedes were fiddling around GR’s setup before qualifying. Thats 2 compromised weekends in a row.

Mercedes wasn't "fiddling with GR's setup". GR saw that Kimi Antonelli was quicker than him all weekend, and wanted the car changed again at the last minute to beat him.

There's a very strange dynamic going on at Mercedes. I noticed after China that Wolff was keen to redirect any idea of an Antonelli championship campaign. After FP3 today, Button was asking Toto whether or not Kimi's win in China gave him the confident to drive so well this weekend. Wolff's answer was that Russell actually made a mistake on his final FP3 lap and would have been up there.

Why bring up Russell when asked a question about Antonelli? Also, Antonelli was quicker on all of the runs during FP3 by 2-3 tenths, not just the final run. Antonelli was also quicker by 2 tenths in the race sims on Friday. This is the same gap as qualifying. The gap is the gap all weekend aside from a few mistakes on the soft runs by Antonelli in FP1/2.

Then after qualifying, Toto immediately went to Russell's "setup mistake", which is just covering for the guy. The bigger picture is the driver who was positioned as "lead" , was slower all weekend.

My opinion is things already start to get complicated at Mercedes. They planned for Russell to be the lead driver and win the championship while Antonelli "learns". (sensible since he has more experience). But ultimately Kimi Antonelli is too quick to play a supporting role and it will put pressure on Mercedes leadership.

This should not be surprising to anyone who followed Kimi Antonelli's career and what Mercedes was learning about him during the TPC test. In Russell's 2nd and 3rd season in F1, he was being matched by Latifi on race pace. Even the older Hamilton was exposing Russell's weakness in 2022-2024...Antonelli already had better race pace than Russell in a couple of the races last year as a rookie (Jeddah, Imola, Qatar, Mexico, Las Vegas, Brazil, etc). Antonelli was also catching Russell at the end in Australia this year, and dismissed Russell's efforts to catch him in China.

Each time people are looking for excuses to say it's not real...Sorry but if you've got 7 years in F1 and you still can't beat the allegations when you finally got a dominant car, then they're probably true. Antonelli is going to overtake Russell. It's already happening.

I don’t buy what you’re saying. George is one of the most prolific qualifiers on the grid and has been complaining about the rear feeling “light” during the whole session. It seems to me that there is an issue with the car. You seem to be forgetting that in the Chinese Sprint and Australian GP, he beat him by a decent margin. The season is very long and I think it is too soon to write off George. Who knows, maybe Kimi will win the WDC, who knows!

[Gillian]

Solid job! Kimi’s gonna be a problem. I don’t like the fact that Mercedes were fiddling around GR’s setup before qualifying. Thats 2 compromised weekends in a row.

A driver in form is a problem? Or are you a Russell fan first, Mercedes second? Not judging, just found it an interesting comment.

Anyway came here to say good job Antonelli. He's had crappy performances, but it seems he is finding his form.

[AR3-GP]

I don’t buy what you’re saying. George is one of the most prolific qualifiers on the grid and has been complaining about the rear feeling “light” during the whole session. It seems to me that there is an issue with the car. You seem to be forgetting that in the Chinese Sprint and Australian GP, he beat him by a decent margin. The season is very long and I think it is too soon to write off George. Who knows, maybe Kimi will win the WDC, who knows!

I didn't write off George or say Kimi will win the championship. I simply think Kimi is just 19 years of age, and his massive potential is already showing in similar ways to superstars of the past. It is like 2016 Red Bull imo. Ricciardo won the points battle, but everybody could see the star in the making in the other garage. Likewise, Russell might come away with the points lead (and title) this year, but everybody can see the star in the other garage.

[Gillian]

I don’t buy what you’re saying. George is one of the most prolific qualifiers on the grid and has been complaining about the rear feeling “light” during the whole session. It seems to me that there is an issue with the car. You seem to be forgetting that in the Chinese Sprint and Australian GP, he beat him by a decent margin. The season is very long and I think it is too soon to write off George. Who knows, maybe Kimi will win the WDC, who knows!

I didn't write off George or say Kimi will win the championship. I simply think Kimi is just 19 years of age, and his massive potential is already showing in similar ways to superstars of the past. It is like 2016 Red Bull imo. Ricciardo won the points battle, but everybody could see the star in the making in the other garage. Likewise, Russell might come away with the points lead (and title) this year, but everybody can see the star in the other garage.

Nah bad comparison,maybe in the end you will be right but certainly not until this point. Until now Russell has had way more race pace than Antonelli. The Ric - Ves fight was the opposite. I remember Verstappen putting 20 seconds on him race after race.

[AR3-GP]

Nah bad comparison,maybe in the end you will be right but certainly not until this point. Until now Russell has had way more race pace than Antonelli. The Ric - Ves fight was the opposite. I remember Verstappen putting 20 seconds on him race after race.

Sure it's not a perfect comparison, but I've placed my bets on how this rivalry goes in the long run and that was the main point about the RB analogy. The expected groups were in denial about it then and now.

These cars are handicapping the drivers anyway, so they are going to look closer in race trim than if they had a normal PU. The tires are indestructible now too which neutralize some of Kimi's ability.

[venkyhere]

I don’t buy what you’re saying. George is one of the most prolific qualifiers on the grid and has been complaining about the rear feeling “light” during the whole session. It seems to me that there is an issue with the car. You seem to be forgetting that in the Chinese Sprint and Australian GP, he beat him by a decent margin. The season is very long and I think it is too soon to write off George. Who knows, maybe Kimi will win the WDC, who knows!

I didn't write off George or say Kimi will win the championship. I simply think Kimi is just 19 years of age, and his massive potential is already showing in similar ways to superstars of the past. It is like 2016 Red Bull imo. Ricciardo won the points battle, but everybody could see the star in the making in the other garage. Likewise, Russell might come away with the points lead (and title) this year, but everybody can see the star in the other garage.

Bingo. I was about to type this, you beat me to it.

[nitrotech]

I don’t buy what you’re saying. George is one of the most prolific qualifiers on the grid and has been complaining about the rear feeling “light” during the whole session. It seems to me that there is an issue with the car. You seem to be forgetting that in the Chinese Sprint and Australian GP, he beat him by a decent margin. The season is very long and I think it is too soon to write off George. Who knows, maybe Kimi will win the WDC, who knows!

I didn't write off George or say Kimi will win the championship. I simply think Kimi is just 19 years of age, and his massive potential is already showing in similar ways to superstars of the past. It is like 2016 Red Bull imo. Ricciardo won the points battle, but everybody could see the star in the making in the other garage. Likewise, Russell might come away with the points lead (and title) this year, but everybody can see the star in the other garage.

Bingo. I was about to type this, you beat me to it.

I think posters here know when to take certain comments seriously and especially by some folks, on this thread. Internet is definitely a place.
Kimi is the same driver that was written off in the second half of last year to the point that Toto was frustrated of his lack of pace. If Max getting out qualified by Hadjar is not Max, it was car, regulations, war in the middle east etc., then how is George having a bad weekend makes Kimi better? Let's have some rationality yeh. 19 years is no guarantee that there is a bottomless bucket of talent in there. If there are drivers still going well in their 40s, a driver in 28 is too old against a 19 years old? Max cannot show his talent because these cars in the current regulations doesn't reward those exceptional cornering performance, but that's still some how a great yardstick to measure Kimi's talent against George? I know you guys don't like George and come to this thread when there are these rare moments where Kimi outperforms George. But hopefully we can have better comments here.

[AR3-GP]

Kimi is the same driver that was written off in the second half of last year to the point that Toto was frustrated of his lack of pace.

He did his best performances in the 2nd half of his rookie season, beating Russell on several occasions including Mexico, Brazil, Qatar and catching Russell from the back of the grid in Las Vegas.

[nitrotech]

Kimi is the same driver that was written off in the second half of last year to the point that Toto was frustrated of his lack of pace.

He did his best performances in the 2nd half, beating Russell on several occasions including Mexico, Brazil, Qatar and catching Russell from the back of the grid in Las Vegas.

Is there a reason that you have omitted this?

Yes. Even Bottas used to beat Lewis a few times in a season. Especially when setup directions were wrong.

I see you ignored rest of my post.