Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli faced a challenging start to the Singapore Grand Prix weekend after qualifying only seventh for the sprint race. The 20-year-old Italian, who has otherwise enjoyed a dominant campaign in 2026, admitted to struggling with the latest Mercedes upgrade package around the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Despite holding a commanding 86-point advantage over teammate George Russell in the standings, Antonelli has faced hurdles recently. Following last weekend in Sepang where Red Bull's Max Verstappen dominated from pole, Mercedes introduced further updates to Malaysia and brought them to Singapore on the W17, while Russell reverted to an older specification for a direct comparison.
However, the new components have not yielded immediate rewards for the championship leader. Antonelli managed only seventh in both FP1 and the sprint qualifying session, finishing over half a second adrift of his teammate and nearly seven tenths behind polesitter Verstappen. The handling of the car has proven to be an uphill battle.
Speaking to F1 TV after the sessions, Antonelli did not hide his frustration regarding the unpredictable nature of his machine. "Already in FP1 I was struggling. Still a lot to understand about this package," he said. "It's really the car is very difficult, very unpredictable and very difficult to put a lap together. So yeah, it's a shame because I was coming with high hopes, but so far, it's been very difficult."
Those remarks echo team principal Toto Wolff's post-FP1 assessment that the new car spec appears trickier to drive. With Verstappen setting a formidable pace and rival teams lurking, Antonelli acknowledges that turning the weekend around will require a major overnight breakthrough from engineers like Peter Bonnington to unlock crucial performance.
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