Antonelli: Mercedes still unsure whether new package is faster
Kimi Antonelli says Mercedes cannot yet tell whether its new package has made the car faster or slower. GPBeat reports that he said Sepang’s rough tarmac and high temperatures made the assessment harder.
Conceptual AI-generated editorial motorsport illustration; not a documentary photograph or evidence that a pictured event, meeting or transfer occurred. · 2026-10-06GPBeat newsroom · News Made Clear generated illustration
Kimi Antonelli finished second at Sepang, 2.307 seconds behind Max Verstappen. After the race on 4 October, he said Mercedes still did not know whether its new package had made the car faster or slower.
Antonelli said Sepang’s rough tarmac and high temperatures made the package harder to assess. He also said Mercedes had struggled on very old asphalt earlier in 2026, citing Zandvoort, where he said McLaren had been much quicker than Mercedes, especially on the older surface.
Antonelli said Mercedes had a lot of data after the weekend and expected to reach Singapore the following week with a much clearer view of the package. He hoped the team would also understand what setup to run to extract its full potential.
Sources 02
- PRIMARY SOURCEF1 - 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia Post-Race Press Conference TranscriptFIA news and transcripts
- PRIMARY SOURCEDoc 60 - Final Race ClassificationFIA F1 decision documents
Claims and supporting evidence 5
The FIA final classification lists Antonelli second and gives the 2.307-second gap.
The post-race transcript records Antonelli’s assessment; the article does not present it as a measured before-and-after result.
This is attributed to Antonelli’s explanation of the assessment difficulty.
The transcript records Antonelli’s account and comparison.
The transcript supports the forecast and the reference to understanding the required setup.
This article was produced with AI assistance. Source references make its supporting evidence traceable.