Kimi Antonelli seeks Mercedes improvement over 'unacceptable' F1 fault

Kimi Antonelli feels Mercedes' trend of bad starts in F1 races is "unacceptable" as he gave fresh details on exactly how he is struggling. 

Across the six standing starts thus far in 2026 from the four grands prix and two Sprints, Antonelli has lost positions on each and dropped down into the pack. 

Although he has recovered to win the Chinese, Japanese, and Miami Grands Prix, the issue continued in the Miami Sprint, where he dropped from second on the grid to eighth before recovering to fourth on the road before his five-second penalty for track limits.

For this start, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff took responsibility and blamed a Mercedes error in calculating the grip levels as Antonelli was cleared of any fault, but the world championship leader is keen to see a resolution to the issue quickly, especially given how the field is closing in on Mercedes and the impact bad starts could have.

"I mean, [the race] to be fair, was not as bad. I think I lost two places, and in the Sprint, I lost six, so it was a little better," Antonelli told media, including RacingNews365. 

"But it is not acceptable, I think, especially on a weekend like this, where the gaps were a lot closer, [a bad start] can really change the race.

"So it is a point where, together with the team, we need to look into it, because in the Sprint, procedure-wise, it was good, but the grip level that we thought was there was just not there.

"Mainly from me, I'm still a little bit inconsistent, especially on clutch-drop. I still don't have that confidence, being consistent with that, I still have a bit of uncertainty, so it is a big point which needs to be improved.

"But [in the race], I managed it better than [in the Sprint], where I was very frustrated, and [in the race], I just kept it a bit cool, a bit better and just managed to move on and focus on the race."