Mercedes Seeks Answers for Kimi Antonelli's Pace Drop at Zandvoort

Pulse Sports Team 16:56 - 26 August 2026

The Mercedes team has initiated a "thorough analysis" into Andrea Kimi Antonelli's performance at the Dutch Grand Prix. The championship leader revealed he experienced a "difficult second half" of the race, struggling with the balance of his W17 car.

Antonelli started the race strongly. After qualifying third, he overtook teammate George Russell off the line to claim second position before the end of the first lap, then passed Lando Norris on the restart to take the lead. However, with each subsequent tire change, the championship leader encountered increasing issues with his car. Mercedes has now confirmed they are investigating the problems Antonelli faced, aiming to understand the root cause before the next round in Italy.

"Each subsequent set of tires led to a little more oversteer than the previous one, and we're trying to understand why that happened," explained Mercedes Chief Engineer, Andrew Shovlin. "We hadn't changed the car, we hadn't added aerodynamic balance that would explain it. So, we're doing a really thorough analysis of the data to get to the bottom of the problem, because it's important to resolve such things before the next race." "Obviously, the battle is becoming very competitive in terms of performance. We are still waiting for our main upgrade package to arrive, which will help, but in the meantime, it will be quite challenging," he added.