Kimi Antonelli's huge accident during the Australian Grand Prix weekend has placed Mercedes at the top of F1's unofficial 'destructors championship.'
On Saturday morning in Melbourne, Antonelli spun at Turn 2 and destroyed his Mercedes, with team boss Toto Wolff describing the car as looking like "Lego" as the team faced a race against time to repair the car for qualifying, which it eventually did after Max Verstappen's Q1 crash allowed precious extra time.
That crash cost Red Bull around $350,000, according to the figures prepared by Redditor PabloGamer09, with Isack Hadjar's pre-season testing crash also costing Red Bull around $574,000.
However, this was not the second-biggest cost, with Oscar Piastri's embarrassing rash on the way to the grid in Melbourne costing McLaren $641,000.
In total, so far, crash damage has cost $3,492,000, with an average of $317,454 per the 11 drivers to have caused damage thus far.
World Destructors championship after Chinese GP
| Driver | Team | Damage cost |
|---|---|---|
| Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | $907,000 |
| Oscar Piastri | McLaren | $641,000 |
| Isack Hadjar | Red Bul | $574,000 |
| Max Verstappen | Red Bull | $350,000 |
| Sergio Perez | Cadillac | $210,000 |
| George Russell | Mercedes | $150,000 |
| Lando Norris | McLaren | $150,000 |
| Carlos Sainz | Williams | $150,000 |
| Pierre Gasly | Alpine | $150,000 |
| Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | $150,000 |
| Esteban Ocon | Haas | $60,000 |
| Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | $0 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | $0 |
| Alex Albon | Williams | $0 |
| Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | $0 |
| Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | $0 |
| Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | $0 |
| Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | $0 |
| Oliver Bearman | Haas | $0 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | $0 |
| Franco Colapinto | Alpine | $0 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | $0 |
Also interesting:
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