Andrea Kimi Antonelli warns Mercedes rivals: Canada did not show the true potential of the W17
Mercedes appears to have taken a significant step forward with its latest upgrades, and according to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the true scale of that progress may be even greater than what was visible at the Canadian Grand Prix. While the Silver Arrows had historically thrived in cooler conditions over recent seasons, the situation now appears to have changed, with the Brackley-based team investing heavily in cooling improvements that could make the car even stronger in warmer races.
Mercedes now heads into the European phase of the Formula 1 season with growing confidence, hoping to fully unlock the benefits of its latest package in Spain. At the same time, the team is also enjoying clear progress in another key area: race starts.
Mercedes may be even stronger in the heat
Mercedes repeated its Canadian success from 2025, but this time, unusually, the cold weather may actually have limited the team’s competitiveness.
“I think this weekend we didn’t really see the true potential of the package,” Andrea Kimi Antonelli reflected. “The conditions were very unusual, it was cold, and simply getting the tyres into the right operating window made a huge difference. Our car is very good at cooling the tyres, and especially this weekend, with temperatures so low, it was difficult to bring them up to temperature. I think that penalised us a little.”
The Italian driver believes Barcelona will offer a much clearer picture of how much performance the new package has actually added.
“We haven’t seen the package’s real potential yet. We’ll understand much better in Barcelona how much it has actually given us. I think we would have been competitive even with the old configuration. This package gives more downforce, and we definitely felt that, but it has also improved the cooling level. I think that made life a little more difficult for us this weekend.
“Still, you can clearly feel that the package delivers more downforce and that the car generally has more grip.”
When discussing cooling, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was referring primarily to tyre temperature management. This year, wheel rim development has once again become an area teams can exploit more directly, leading to significant investment and different technical philosophies across the grid.
Based on Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s explanation, Mercedes has focused on preventing tyre overheating — a strategy that brought the unintended consequence of making tyre warm-up more difficult when track temperatures dropped, as they did in Montreal.
The championship leader had to manage some graining on the medium tyres in the second half of the race, but in the opening stages, when the softer compound came into play more quickly, Mercedes drivers were reportedly running six to seven tenths faster than the rest of the field.
Unlike previous years, the Brackley team no longer appears vulnerable to hotter weather, meaning the W17’s advantage on Europe’s warmer circuits could potentially be even greater.
A major step forward in race starts
Another encouraging sign for Mercedes comes from clear improvements in launch performance. During the recent break, the team worked extensively on both the software and Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s clutch paddle setup after several difficult starts earlier in the season.
The feedback from the Italian has been highly positive.
“It’s much better, definitely a big step forward, and it was needed. The team made a really strong improvement, and so did Marcelo, my engineer who works specifically on this area. It’s a step in the right direction, and I’m happy about it, because making strong starts is incredibly important for the rest of the race.”
Mercedes arrives at the heart of the European season with genuine momentum, even if the road to the Formula 1 title remains a very long one.
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