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Kimi Antonelli Reveals “different mindset” Ahead of F1 Italian Grand Prix Return

Kimi Antonelli heads into this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix with a 59-point lead in the Formula 1 drivers’ championship and a very different outlook from his difficult home-race debut at Monza in 2025.

Antonelli endured a troubled weekend last year. The Mercedes driver received a five-second penalty after colliding with Williams driver Alex Albon and was shown a black-and-white flag for exceeding track limits. He ultimately scored two points with a ninth-place finish.

Now 20, Antonelli returns to Monza as the championship leader and a six-time grand prix winner this season. Speaking to F1.com before his home race, the Italian said he would approach the weekend with a “different attitude”.

“I’m very excited. I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere and it’s going to be a lot different compared to last year,” he said. “I’m definitely going in with a different attitude, different mindset, and definitely I feel like I’m going to be able to enjoy the weekend a lot more. I’m really looking forward to be back.”

Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes. Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

Antonelli set for minimum 10-place grid penalty at Monza

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confirmed during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend that Antonelli would take a grid penalty at his home race because of a planned power unit change.

The final penalty has not yet been confirmed. Its severity will depend on how many new power unit components Mercedes installs in Antonelli’s car, but it will be at least 10 places.

“With Kimi, we’re taking the full thing. Our calculations say that that’s the best track to take it,” Wolff explained.

“Obviously, algorithms don’t take their nationality into consideration. We’re here to fight for a championship and not get the most PR. So yeah, that’s what we’re going to do.”

The Italian Grand Prix will be held at Monza from 4-6 September.

08/31/2026
Lando Norris Insists He Has Not Changed Since Winning the F1 Championship

Lando Norris says winning the Formula 1 world championship has not changed his personality, although achieving his childhood dream has given him greater calm and confidence away from the pressures of the title fight.

The McLaren driver discussed his championship success in an interview with Sky Sports, filmed after he announced a contract extension with the Woking-based team through the end of 2030.

“It hasn’t, which is exactly what I would want,” Norris explained when asked how he thinks winning the championship has changed him. “I don’t want it to change me. I don’t want it to change who I am. I think I just get to go around with a feeling that I’ve accomplished something very few people in the world get to achieve, and I know I’ve achieved my dream as a kid.

“That’s something, again, not many people get to achieve. So I know how lucky I am. I know how fortunate I’ve been to be with McLaren.”

Norris remains focused on the Formula 1 title fight

For the 26-year-old, the biggest change has been in his perspective away from the cockpit rather than in his approach on the track.

“There’s an element of I know that people have high expectations, and I have high expectations for myself, and that’s where everything starts,” he said about the pressure of the current championship campaign.

Lando Norris, McLaren. Photo by: Pirelli

“But there’s also the element of we had such a tough start to the year. We’ve been very, very unfortunate with a lot of things. We knew we would start on the back foot. [Fighting for the championship] certainly wasn’t the first thought we had. The fact that it’s become a thought is a pretty awesome thing.

“So I’m very relaxed that I’m in the position of being the chaser, of course. But every time I’m on track, I don’t necessarily feel different because of it. Every time I put my helmet on, I still want to win today. I want to be first today. I want to be on pole. And that’s the same mentality that I’ve always had.

“It changes my outlook, especially when I’m out of the car. But I wouldn’t say it changes anything when I’m in it, because when I’m in it, it’s always 100%. It’s always go flat out. It’s always, don’t embarrass yourself. I want to be number one, no matter what situation I’m in.

“So, yeah, certainly just being off track, being more relaxed, being able to work with the team in an even better way than ever, that’s what’s also helping.”

08/31/2026
Williams Criticized for ‘overpromising and underdelivering’ Amid 2026 F1 Struggles

Formula 1 broadcaster Will Buxton has criticised Williams for “overpromising and underdelivering” during the 2026 season, while admitting he remains surprised that Carlos Sainz chose the Grove-based team over Audi.

Williams struggles after ambitious 2025 claims

Williams made bold statements throughout 2025, but its campaign has fallen well short of expectations. The team arrived at pre-season testing in Bahrain on the back foot after missing private testing in Barcelona, and it has since battled significant problems with an overweight car.

After 12 rounds, Williams sits ninth in the constructors’ championship with 11 points. Sainz and Alex Albon are 16th and 17th in the drivers’ standings, with six and five points respectively.

The team’s difficult season was compounded at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort, where the two Williams drivers collided. Albon was forced to retire, while Sainz received a 10-second penalty.

Buxton compares Williams with Audi

Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, Buxton compared Williams with Audi, which joined the Formula 1 grid as a works team in 2026 after taking over Sauber.

Sainz had held talks with Audi after losing his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton, but ultimately chose Williams for the 2025 season.

“There’s an interesting difference in mindset and philosophy between Williams and Audi. When you look at the two places that Carlos could have ended up, you might have expected Audi to turn up with great fanfare, and yet I feel that they’ve been quite understated and have kind of underpromised and overdelivered,” Buxton explained.

“Whereas Williams keep making the big statements of, ‘We’re going to take these steps up; we want to be fighting for X, Y and Z, and this is going to be a great year for us,’ and then it disappoints. So they overpromise and underdeliver.

“I did find it interesting back when Carlos signed for Williams, and he had that option of going to Audi. I found it really interesting that you would turn down a factory seat over the dream that is Williams, and obviously James Vowles sold him a brilliant dream.”

Source: www.motorsport.com

08/31/2026
Fernando Alonso “saved” Aston Martin After Difficult Dutch GP Weekend, Says Guenther Steiner

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes Fernando Alonso was solely responsible for Aston Martin’s points finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Aston Martin arrived at Zandvoort with a highly anticipated power-unit upgrade from engine partner Honda, following the introduction of a B-spec car at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

However, the upgrades did not immediately deliver a clear improvement. Lance Stroll and Alonso finished 17th and 18th respectively in the sprint, before qualifying 18th and 19th for the Dutch Grand Prix.

Stroll retired after suffering damage during a chaotic opening lap in which Max Verstappen crashed. Alonso, meanwhile, used an aggressive one-stop strategy to finish ninth and secure two valuable points for Aston Martin, tripling the team’s season tally.

Steiner credits Alonso for Aston Martin points

Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner suggested that the result owed more to the two-time world champion’s performance than to Aston Martin’s upgraded car.

“After what I saw on Friday and Saturday in sprint qualifying and the sprint, I was like, ‘Wow, I think we overreacted a little bit to their resurgence.’ And then also the qualifying on Saturday for the race, like, ‘Wow, this is not going the right way,’” Steiner explained.

“This was a Fernando special here, doing it with one stop. That saved them. He could keep a decent pace, and what helps them at the moment is that there are really now three backmarker teams, which are far off everyone.”

Aston Martin is currently 10th in the constructors’ championship with three points, all scored by Alonso. The Spaniard sits 19th in the drivers’ standings.

Alonso says Aston Martin and Honda need more time

Alonso praised Aston Martin’s upgrades after the race but acknowledged that the team and Honda still need time to fine-tune the changes.

“In general, we’re still not in the place we want to be in terms of driveability. The downshifts and engine braking seem a little bit random, corner by corner,” the Spaniard told Sky Sports F1. “So we still need to fine-tune it and, with the deficit on power, we still lose a lot on the straights. So now that we are more or less competitive in the corners, we need to improve that. But we are trying to do all this together. “We need to give time to Honda as well to figure out what the problem is and where to fix it. So I’m happy, I’m relaxed. I trust both Silverstone and Sakura.”

Source: www.motorsport.com

08/30/2026
Lando Norris Discusses Long-Term McLaren Future After Committing Through 2030

2025 Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris says he would be “proud” to spend his entire F1 career with McLaren after committing his future to the team until the end of the 2030 season.

The 26-year-old has signed a four-year contract extension with the Woking-based outfit. Speaking to Sky Sports about the possibility of racing into his 40s and remaining with McLaren throughout his career, Norris said he was uncertain how long he would continue competing in Formula 1 but reaffirmed his commitment to the team.

“Oh, I don’t know if I want to get to 40. It’s a big ask to get to 30, so we’ll see. I don’t know what the future holds,”

He added:

“I certainly want to believe what it holds, and I still believe that we can win more as a team and win more constructors’ and more drivers’ championships, and that’s why I want to stay here.

Lando Norris, McLaren. Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

“But they are also the only team I’ve ever been with, and the team that I love and I call this place my home. So, if I do end up just doing my whole career at McLaren, that’s something I’ll be so proud to say and carry with me through the rest of my life.”

Norris played down immediate comparisons with the lengthy Formula 1 careers of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, saying his focus is currently on the four-year extension he has just signed.

“I don’t know what point I want to go to as a driver, whether I want to be 30, or 40, or 50. I don’t know that yet,”

He continued:

“So, I’m just very, very pleased to announce I’ll be here for four more years and four more years fighting for wins and championships, hopefully.”

Norris is currently fourth in the drivers’ championship with 159 points after securing back-to-back victories at the Hungarian and Dutch Grands Prix.

08/30/2026
Ferrari Faces Management Test Between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc After Dutch GP, Pundit Says

Former F1 TV pundit Will Buxton has questioned whether Ferrari can effectively manage the relationship between seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast after the Dutch Grand Prix, Buxton contrasted Ferrari’s hesitation over team orders with Mercedes’ swift decision-making. Mercedes quickly arranged a position swap, while Ferrari chose not to intervene, prompting a series of frustrated radio messages from Hamilton.

Ferrari’s team orders challenge

Buxton said the incident was less a test of the two Ferrari drivers’ relationship than a test of how the team’s management handles competing priorities.

Leclerc has raced for Ferrari since 2019 and is deeply established within the organisation. Hamilton joined the Maranello team in 2025 following a successful 12-year spell with Mercedes. After taking time to adapt to his new surroundings, the 41-year-old returned to top form in 2026.

“Is this Ferrari’s first real test of the Charles and Lewis relationship? Well, if it’s not a test of their relationship, it’s a test of how the team handles it because Charles is the golden child, right? Always has been. He’s Ferrari through and through. He’s probably never going to race anywhere else. It’s his place, and he’s been there since he was a kid,” Buxton explained.

“And then you’ve got Lewis, the GOAT, seven-time champion. You can’t please both, right? In an F1 team, one driver’s going to be p***ed, one driver’s going to come out happy. That’s just how it works out, especially in these kinds of scenarios. And you kind of have to take your medicine sometimes and realise that you’re going to p*** off one.

“You can’t keep both of them happy in every single eventuality. It doesn’t happen. Lewis has experience of a team that executes immediately at Mercedes, and he wants that world championship-winning mentality at Ferrari because unless you have that, you’re never going to win a title.

“So I can see the frustration in Lewis of being like, ‘Guys, we’re making ourselves look like d***s here. This is stupid.’ Because he has experience of the other side of the coin.

“Is it a Ferrari problem? Is it a Charles-Lewis problem? How quickly do they have to nip it in the bud? Do they have to just figure out what they’re doing and actually get it written down, or understand that the level of execution that they have at the moment just simply isn’t what a championship-winning team has?”

08/30/2026
Poor Red Bull comeback could have ended Liam Lawson’s F1 career, says former F1 TV pundit

Formula 1 broadcaster Will Buxton believes Liam Lawson’s career at Red Bull could have been over if the New Zealander had struggled during his return at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar missed the race weekend at Zandvoort after suffering a wrist injury during the summer break. Racing Bulls driver Lawson was brought back into the Red Bull seat alongside four-time world champion Max Verstappen, while reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda replaced him at the sister team.

The weekend represented a major test for Lawson, who had been dropped by Red Bull after only two race weekends in 2025. Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, Buxton outlined the pressure facing the driver.

“I don’t think you can underestimate or undervalue the pressure that would have been on him, that he would have been putting on himself to step back into a team where he had turned up and tried everything but had been fired after two races,” Buxton explained.

Liam Lawson, Red Bull

Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

“If he turned up there and qualified at the back of the grid and was nowhere all weekend, that’s pretty much career done.”

Lawson qualified eighth, one place behind Verstappen, and finished the race seventh after the Dutchman crashed on the opening lap.

“So to turn up and drive the way that he did, to race the way that he did, qualify the way that he did, I was really happy for him,” he continued. “His radio message after the race was very sweet and there was a lot of honesty in that.

“It was a weekend of catharsis to put all that horrible experience behind him and move on and show the world and show Red Bull, ‘Look at what you could have had.’ It was nice.”

Source: www.motorsport.com

08/30/2026
Bernie Collins Issues Stark Warning to Williams After Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz’s Dutch GP Crash

Williams cannot afford the financial and development consequences of the collision between Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon at the Dutch Grand Prix, according to Sky Sports Formula 1 analyst Bernie Collins.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Show, Collins highlighted the serious impact of the intra-team crash on the Grove-based team, which is already dealing with an overweight car, delayed upgrades and budget-cap constraints.

Williams entered the Zandvoort weekend after announcing contract extensions for both drivers. However, its race quickly unravelled when Sainz and Albon made contact. Albon retired from the race, while Sainz received a 10-second penalty and eventually finished 16th.

“The first rule within a team is do not hit your team-mate,” Collins said. “That is like the P1 rule. Particularly [for] a team who are struggling to bring upgrades, struggling for money. Their car is overweight and underperforming.

“We hear Mercedes saying they don’t have enough money to bring upgrades. You just can’t lose the parts, the performance, the knowledge. So I think that’s something that they’re going to have a big discussion about.

“Whether it comes out of their pay packet or not doesn’t matter because it’s already out of the budget. You can’t put it back into the budget and say, ‘Oh, the drivers have subbed this bit of the budget.’ It doesn’t work like that. So that was a difficult weekend for them.

“And whether they did or didn’t do the right strategy, it was only [Fernando] Alonso who did the other strategy. So, they had very similar strategies to those around them. But the performance was lacking, and it just seems the car wasn’t the right weight, and it wasn’t delivered on time, and it didn’t have the right performance. So, there’s lots going on in the background of Williams there.”

08/30/2026
Kimi Antonelli Credits 2025 Struggles for Stronger 2026 F1 Campaign

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli says the difficulties of his rookie Formula 1 season in 2025 helped him become mentally stronger for the 2026 championship.

The Italian currently leads his Mercedes team-mate George Russell and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton by 59 points in the drivers’ standings. After back-to-back victories in China and Japan, Antonelli became the youngest driver to lead the championship in his second season in Formula 1. He then added four more Grand Prix wins before the summer break.

Antonelli’s Formula 1 progress

Antonelli has made a significant performance improvement compared with the same stage 12 months ago, when he scored points in just two of nine European races. He finished his rookie season seventh in the standings with 150 points, recording podium finishes in Canada, Brazil and Las Vegas, alongside four retirements in Emilia-Romagna, Spain, Austria and Great Britain.

“Experience is playing a massive role,” the 20-year-old explained to F1.com as he reflected on the changes from 2025 to 2026.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

Antonelli said that although his 2025 campaign was challenging, he “needed” those difficult moments to become stronger “emotionally and mentally”.

“Of course, I still have a lot of experience to make, but I think last year, despite all the bad moments, the difficult periods, I think that was what I needed because that helped me to grow even more than what I anticipated. It made me stronger emotionally and mentally.”

Antonelli prepares for the Italian Grand Prix

Since Antonelli took the championship lead in Japan, there has been considerable discussion about when the pressure of a title fight might affect the young driver. So far, that pressure has yet to slow him down.

Antonelli now heads into his home race at Monza hoping for better fortunes than he experienced in 2025, although he will serve a power unit penalty. The Italian Grand Prix will take place at Monza from 4-6 September.

08/30/2026
McLaren Tipped to Become Mercedes’ Main Rival by the End of the 2026 F1 Season

Former Alpine Formula 1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer expects McLaren to emerge as Mercedes’ closest rival by the end of the 2026 season.

Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast with broadcaster Jake Humphrey, Szafnauer discussed the changing competitive order at the front of the Formula 1 grid after Lando Norris secured consecutive victories at the Hungarian and Dutch Grands Prix.

McLaren upgrades could transform the F1 title fight

McLaren has introduced significant upgrades at recent races. With the team’s development package now fully integrated ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Szafnauer believes the Woking-based outfit can overtake Ferrari in the constructors’ championship and mount a stronger challenge to Mercedes.

“Monza will be very important because [McLaren] brought an upgrade that did work in Hungary. I think they continued with that upgrade from what I read in Zandvoort, and now the upgrade’s complete. Let’s see how they go in Monza,” Szafnauer explained.

“I still think they’re going to be Mercedes’ closest competitor at the end of the season. I said that at the beginning, but it seemed like it was Ferrari. And I think it’s ebbing and flowing, the relative performance due to the fact that not all of the upgrades are coming at the same time, and the upgrades are significant.

“In a year where the regulations are new, you find a lot, right? So your learning curve is very steep. So when you bring that upgrade relative to those who haven’t, you make a step. And I think we saw that with Alpine as well. After Racing Bulls had their upgrade, they were significantly quicker than Alpine. It looked like they were going to get them. And now they’re there or thereabouts.”

Lando Norris, McLaren. Photo by Eric Le Galliot.

Mercedes upgrades limited by the cost cap

Szafnauer also addressed why constructors’ championship leader Mercedes has spread its upgrades across the season instead of introducing new components more frequently. He attributed the team’s cautious approach to Formula 1’s cost cap.

“Cost cap. They have upgrades now that they could bring, but once you start making those parts, it costs you, and they’ll go over the cap,” he said. “So what they’re going to do, my guess is, one more upgrade, Malaysia/Singapore timeframe.

“That doesn’t mean the learning stops. The learning continues in the background. You’re still doing CFD work. You’re still doing wind tunnel work. You’re still making wind tunnel parts. All that’s planned.

“It’s just a question of when you stop to actually bring that upgrade package. And that’s where the money is. When you make realised car parts, they cost: new wings, new floors, new bodywork. And I predict they’ll have one more big upgrade as opposed to a lot of little ones because they can’t afford it. They’re at the cap.”

08/30/2026