Antonelli reveals he feared for his F1 future before storming to 2026 championship lead

Kimi Antonelli has revealed he came close to a crisis of confidence during his 2025 debut season at Mercedes, with rumours of a loan move to Alpine or Williams fuelling doubts about whether the team had promoted him too soon. The Italian, now leading the 2026 Formula 1 championship by 66 points after five straight victories, finished seventh in last year’s standings — 169 points behind team-mate George Russell.

Antonelli was fast-tracked through the junior categories by Mercedes, skipping Formula 3 entirely and completing just one season of F2 before replacing Lewis Hamilton on the senior roster. The raw talent was evident — a sprint pole in Miami and three podiums — but so were the growing pains. Costly errors and a lack of consistency across the final 18 races of 2025 drew criticism, with team principal Toto Wolff publicly labelling his Monza weekend as “underwhelming”.

“At one point in the season things on track weren’t going the way I wanted,” Antonelli told Motorsport.com. “On top of that, rumours started circulating about a possible move to Alpine or Williams — rumours that were never denied. In situations like that, doubts inevitably arise, and there’s a risk of falling into a negative spiral.”

The arrival of the sweeping 2026 technical regulations proved a turning point. The new rules introduced a near 50-50 split between electrical and internal combustion power, placing a premium on battery management — a discipline Antonelli targeted heavily over the winter.

“During the winter break we worked a lot on that aspect,” he said. “We completed an intensive simulator programme, both to develop the car and to better understand this power unit, and become familiar with battery management. A large part of what I’m able to do today comes directly from the preparation work that started last year.”

The investment has paid off spectacularly. At last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, Antonelli claimed a fifth consecutive win, with Russell noting that the nimbler 2026 cars suit his team-mate’s driving style particularly well. Antonelli now leads the championship ahead of Hamilton in second, with pre-season favourite Russell a further two points back in third.

For a driver who entered 2025 under the weight of replacing one of the sport’s greatest ever competitors, the turnaround has been as swift as it has been striking.