Antonelli makes worrying Mercedes admission after defeat to Verstappen
Verstappen gave Mercedes a lesson (Photo: Race Pictures)
Connor Andrews is Formula 1 and MotoGP writer for GPblog and various outlets. Having worked in motorsport for 15 years for leading companies, he has interviewed the sports biggest names and attended multiple Grands Prix.
Despite edging even closer to his maiden world title, Kimi Antonelli wasn’t feeling so positive about his Mercedes in Malaysia.
The Italian finished second behind Max Verstappen while teammate and closest challenger George Russell retired with a power unit failure.
The result means Antonelli now has a massive 84-point championship lead with just seven races to go, putting one hand on the trophy.
However, things were far from simple at the Bahrain Grand Prix, with Mercedes suffering in qualifying where Antonelli ended fourth and Russell eighth.
The opposite was expected from the Silver Arrows, who brought a substantial update to the Sepang circuit only to be unable to lay a glove on Verstappen’s Red Bull.
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Speaking to GPblog and others after the race, Antonelli admitted some concerns over where the W17 is heading.
Antonelli unsure whether Mercedes upgrade actually worked
Asked about the update, he said: “That's the question we need to answer because we don't really know if it made us go faster or worse.
“It’s fair to say this season, whenever we went on really open tarmac, we've struggled. For example, Zandvoort, McLaren was much quicker than us, especially on the older tarmac.
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“Maybe it's just a fact that the tarmac is just very old and that it's very, very hard on the tyres, and maybe we just struggle on this kind of tarmac.
“But, of course, the track and the tarmac made our life difficult in understanding whether it made us improve or not.”
Verstappen mastered a bonkers Grand Prix (Photo: Race Pictures)
Verstappen proves untouchable for Mercedes in Malaysia
Verstappen is 132 points off Antonelli and sixth in the standings, but still sent an ominous warning to long-time rivals Mercedes.
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The win was Red Bull’s first with their in-house power units, and such a result suggests that despite Mercedes nailing the new 2026 regulation cycle, they may not have things their own way for long.
Discussing his Dutch rival, Antonelli added: “Max has been very, very quick all weekend. I think today, with the pace we had, P2 was the maximum we could have achieved.”
If Antonelli takes the title this season, he will become F1’s youngest-ever champion, ahead of Verstappen who is currently fourth (24 years, 73 days) and Lewis Hamilton who is second (23 years, 300 days).
The 20-year-old was sat next to the pair, with Hamilton rounding off the podium in third, and revealed that even if they catch up with him, he’s already learning off them to get even better.
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Antonelli learns painful lesson from Verstappen
“I try to learn as much as possible whenever I drive closely to them,” he said.
“Today was a really good showcase of how Max handled the restart on slick tyres and a slippery track.
“He knew much better how to position the car and had a better feeling for the grip in those first two corners and overtook me.
“Even though it was not nice to get overtaken, I was very annoyed with that. It was still a good way to learn from that and to use it in the future.”
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