)
Six wins, six pole positions, and first place in the Formula 1 standings. Where a year ago Kimi Antonelli experienced one of his toughest Formula 1 weekends, he has now exacted sweet revenge, securing a victory that mathematically guarantees him the top spot in the standings before the summer break. But the significance of his Spa success is far greater.
The Belgian Grand Prix, where last season the Italian struggled with rear suspension setup and never found the necessary confidence, offered a perfect opportunity to understand how much the Mercedes driver has grown over the past 12 months. It also clarifies why Antonelli's style, beyond his significant innate talent, proves so effective with the 2026 cars.
To understand this, we need to look back at last season and the final phase of the previous ground effect regulations. Those cars were very stable but also notoriously unpredictable. This is why the development of flexible wings, designed to improve stability and balance in corners, became such a crucial element of technical development.
However, the moment this balance was lost, ground effect cars would "betray" the driver, suddenly and without warning losing grip. It's no coincidence that over the years, drivers repeatedly noted how difficult it was to control the car once they pushed past its limits. The previous technical cycle also had another distinguishing feature: the challenges of combined loading, where drivers simultaneously brake and turn into a corner.
With the transition from 13-inch to 18-inch tires, the reduced sidewall height of the slicks led to a smaller contact patch. Some drivers suffered more from this than others, as the combined phase was one of their greatest strengths. No longer able to attack corner entry as they wished, they were forced to adapt certain aspects of their driving style. Pirelli, of course, worked to mitigate the effect, but it's clear that part of it is an inevitable consequence of the smaller contact patch.
"If you imagine the tire rolling longitudinally, the length of the contact patch is shorter, and with a shorter contact patch, the transition in driving feel between having grip and losing it is sharper," explained Dario Maraffusi, Pirelli's Head of Motorsport, to motorsport.com.
"That's why we understand the drivers' comments; these difficulties were expected to arise on corner entry when managing grip, precisely because the sudden loss of grip provides less warning."
To understand why these two elements are so important this year, we need to look at what has changed. This season, teams have found that the combined phase has become even more complex, as tires are narrower to reduce aerodynamic drag under the new regulations. Greater front-end loading helps prevent wheel lock-up that can occur on corner entry, but this remains a challenging area to manage.
Quick steering input to stabilize the rear of the car
"We are indeed observing that the corner entry phase, when you brake and turn simultaneously, is very delicate. It's very difficult to avoid tire lock-up. When you don't have front lock-up, you might have instability, as if the tires don't have much capacity for transition from purely longitudinal to purely lateral movement in the corner," explained McLaren boss Andrea Stella in Monaco.
But there's another element: the behavior of the car's rear. The new cars have a more unstable rear compared to ground effect cars, but in some respects, they are also "easier" and more predictable for drivers. This allows drivers to play more with the overall balance. It's no coincidence that from day one of this new technical cycle, drivers highlighted that while there's less pure downforce, the 2026 cars are aerodynamically easier and more enjoyable to drive.
This dynamic makes corner entry and the initial phase of reaching the apex extremely sensitive: "To react precisely to this difficulty in reading the car on corner entry, some drivers tend to turn the front tires very sharply. This allows them to enter the corner with a very sharp and quick steering input, causing the front to experience a sudden increase in steering angle, which makes the car tend to go straight, meaning we have clear understeer here," Maraffusi told motorsport.com.
"What does 'going straight' actually mean? It means the rear stabilizes more, and the front gradually gains grip. This driving style, with front-end oversaturation, inevitably affects tire wear and temperatures as well."
"I can confirm that when we analyze the tires of each team, we measure and see differences."
Kimi has an aggressive style and tries to shorten the corner
One of the defining characteristics of Andrea Kimi Antonelli's driving style is his aggressive approach, built around shortening the corner radius. What does this mean? In some corners, the rotation phase towards the end of entry doesn't happen smoothly, but rather through a very sharp and quick turn of the steering wheel, causing him to use a significant steering angle. This style is suitable for drivers with exceptional car control at low and medium speeds, allowing them to rotate the car and stabilize it quickly.
"It's mostly my style. I try to shorten the corner radius, as well as the time I spend between braking and the dead zone. I try to fold the corner like a handkerchief. I turn at the last moment, very aggressively. Let's say I make the car work a bit more. My style is a bit more aggressive," Antonelli explained to motorsport.com.
"Obviously, the way you drive changes between qualifying and the race, but I have to say that in Barcelona, it was a bit harder for me in qualifying because I was demanding too much from the car, also due to the very high temperatures. The tire wore out quickly, to the extent that in qualifying, the rear was already gone after Turn 7. Let's say it's a style that helps on certain tracks, while on others you might need to adapt it due to the conditions."
"But ultimately, every track is different. For example, at Silverstone, I had to adjust it a bit because all the corners are long and fast, and this style didn't help much," he added.
Indeed, even at Spa, this approach was evident, especially in Turn 1 and the final chicane, where Antonelli deliberately shortened the entry before applying that sharp and quick steering input.
Antonelli and Russell have very different driving styles
This difference in style between Antonelli and his teammate George Russell is clear from the onboard cameras and has not gone unnoticed by their rivals. While the Italian prefers a more aggressive style that seems very well suited to what the 2026 cars demand, George has always been smoother and more progressive with the steering wheel – an approach that worked exceptionally well with ground effect cars.
"If we look at Russell and Antonelli, we see that there's a different driving style. I think it's quite noticeable from the onboard cameras and the way they use the steering wheel," Stella explained in Monaco.
"Driving style definitely has an effect. And we see, looking at the lap times Antonelli was able to achieve here and in Canada, in the race, these differences compared to everyone else must also come from how you manage the tires. Because if it were just a matter of downforce, then it would be exaggerated, and there wouldn't be such differences compared to a teammate."
Clearly, this is just one aspect within a broader context of setup, but for now, Antonelli's driving style seems particularly effective with these new cars, though it also requires an exceptional feel to work naturally. According to team analyses, to extract their full potential, these cars need to be driven with an aggressive approach, especially in low-grip conditions. It's no coincidence that in those low-grip races, where getting the tires into the working window is essential, Kimi was often competitive last year as well.
"Another factor is that this year's car requires drivers to constantly attack. Basically, if you try to smooth out the steering, to be clean, to make the car turn with the front tires, which would be expected, to have a decent compromise between a smooth entry for a good exit, it doesn't pay off in terms of lap time," Stella explained at Spa.
In a context demanding an aggressive driving style and extremely precise tire management – qualities he demonstrated last year could make a difference over long stints – Antonelli is showing not only that he can effectively interpret the 2026 regulations, but also that he can leverage a natural talent that allows him to exploit the strengths of his driving style.
&format=webp)
&format=webp)
,fit(112:112)&format=webp)
,fit(112:112)&format=webp)
,fit(112:112)&format=webp)
,fit(112:112)&format=webp)