The Formula 1 race weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is presenting a massive test for Kimi Antonelli. Amid his pursuit of sealing the 2026 Formula 1 world championship, the young Italian driver has had to fight through physical fatigue caused by a high fever that also affected Valtteri Bottas ahead of the opening practice sessions.
That challenging situation forced Antonelli to skip media duties on Thursday before returning to the cockpit to tackle practice and qualifying. Despite physical limitations and intense nerves within the garage, he successfully secured fourth place on the starting grid, putting him in a strong position to clinch a historic world title.
Psychological pressure has added to the challenge as the championship leader needs just two points to secure the crown. Outside of on-track technical matters, he admitted to struggling with the constant external noise regarding his impending title victory while trying to stay fully focused on extracting performance from his car.
"I feel very tired to be fair; I still haven’t recovered completely," Antonelli told Motorsport Week following a tense qualifying session that also saw drama involving Liam Lawson. "It hasn’t been an easy weekend to be fair, and definitely I’ve been a bit more tense than usual, especially when you keep hearing, wherever you go, any time of the day, the same thing, and people telling me that the title is already done."
The key Mercedes charger explained that while he felt decent during Q2 on used tires, he faced difficulties finding optimal grip when switching to new rubber in the high-stakes Q3 shootout, ultimately lining up behind front-running contenders like George Russell.
"And knowing myself, I’ve been trying to block this noise as much as possible, but it hasn’t been easy," he added. "Definitely, I’ve been a bit more tense today, but I felt decent in Q2, especially on the used tyre. Then in Q3 on the new tyre, I struggled to put the lap together, just to find the grip. But I feel we have a good chance tomorrow, still P4, and we saved a set of new tyres, so hopefully we can use that and move forward."
To combat the energy drain caused by the virus and several restless nights, the young contender outlined a strict recovery plan ahead of Sunday's crucial grand prix. "Now I feel OK, just low on energy," the Mercedes driver stated, adding that he aims for a solid night of rest. "I feel pretty tired, so it’s going to be important to try and sleep well, because I haven’t been sleeping well in these days, and hopefully tomorrow I will have more energy."
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