Andrea Kimi Antonelli has revealed how a joking threat from his father Marco, combined with advice from former racing driver Matteo Bobbi, helped him finally overcome the track limits problems that troubled him throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season. The Mercedes world champion explained that a surprisingly simple adjustment to where he looked when exiting corners made a major difference, with the United States Grand Prix in Austin proving to be the decisive turning point.
Speaking during a lengthy press conference with Italian journalists, including GP-News.net, in San Marino on Thursday, 12 November, the 20-year-old also discussed another weakness that had affected his season: race starts. While Antonelli credited his father and Matteo Bobbi for helping him understand his track limits mistakes, he praised Mercedes for the significant improvements made to its clutch system and starting procedures.
Kimi Antonelli’s two biggest problems during the 2026 F1 season
Andrea Kimi Antonelli secured the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship in only his second season, matching an achievement previously accomplished by just Jacques Villeneuve and Lewis Hamilton. The Italian demonstrated a level of maturity and consistency that few would have predicted before the beginning of the campaign, ultimately establishing himself as the youngest world champion in the sport’s history.
Nevertheless, considering his age and relative lack of Formula 1 experience, Antonelli’s championship-winning season was not entirely free of difficulties. Two particular areas required attention, even as the Mercedes driver established himself as a leading contender for the title.
The first was a persistent tendency to exceed track limits, an issue that affected practically his entire championship campaign. The second concerned his race starts, although those difficulties were mainly confined to the opening stages of the season, when Mercedes was still refining its clutch engagement system and the procedures used to launch the car.
Despite those setbacks, Antonelli continued to develop throughout the year, with his important victory at the United States Grand Prix bringing him closer to securing the world championship.
Kimi Antonelli reveals his father’s threat over repeated track limits mistakes
Antonelli admitted that his repeated track limits infringements had caused considerable concern within Mercedes, as well as frustration for his father Marco Antonelli. The situation eventually prompted a humorous warning from his father, who wanted to see an end to the recurring mistakes.
“At one point, my father told me, ‘If you exceed track limits again, I’ll make you 10 centimetres shorter!’ So I thought it would be better to avoid it!” Antonelli recalled with a smile.
“I know that in many races I kept the people in my team, and also my father, on the edge of their seats because of the track limits infringements. But then, after talking to my father and also Matteo Bobbi, they both gave me advice on how to avoid them.”
Matteo Bobbi, a former racing driver and Sky television pundit who has become part of Antonelli’s entourage, helped the Mercedes youngster identify a more effective approach to positioning his car at corner exits.
Rather than concentrating exclusively on the white line marking the edge of the circuit, Antonelli learnt to adjust his visual reference point to give himself a slightly greater margin.
“It’s also a question of how you look at the corner exit and where you direct your gaze, because when you aim your eyes at the white line, it’s normal that you risk ending up on the white line with your outside wheels. But if, instead, you aim just a little to the left of the white line, it’s easier to get the corner exit right.”
The adjustment allowed Antonelli to approach corner exits differently without constantly risking an infringement. It was a relatively straightforward change, but one that proved particularly useful during the decisive stages of his championship campaign.
Why the Austin F1 weekend was the turning point for Antonelli
According to Antonelli, the breakthrough came at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, a circuit he considers particularly demanding when it comes to respecting track limits. The weekend was significant not only because he secured another victory and effectively put the championship beyond his rivals’ reach, but also because it demonstrated how much progress he had made with one of his biggest weaknesses.
“It was the decisive weekend because we can say that Austin is the most difficult circuit for track limits,” Antonelli explained.
“And in the race I only had one infringement, and only because Carlos Sainz… was being a bit of a pain in the arse! I was in traffic, I expected him to move under braking, but instead he stayed there and I was right behind him, so I locked up and went wide.”
Although he felt the situation involving Carlos Sainz had contributed to the incident, Antonelli acknowledged that his own judgement had also played a part.
“But it was also an error of judgement on my part, and if you look closely, that infringement was the only one of the race, and there wasn’t even one in qualifying. That was really satisfying!”
For a driver who had spent much of the season dealing with repeated infringements, completing qualifying without a single track limits violation and recording just one during the race represented considerable progress.
The achievement was especially meaningful at a circuit where respecting the white lines can be difficult. Antonelli’s impressive performance also demonstrated the consistency that had become a defining characteristic of his championship challenge, as he worked with race engineer Peter Bonnington to secure victory in Austin.
The United States Grand Prix also highlighted the competitiveness of the Mercedes package, with Ferrari’s straight-line speed deficit to Mercedes analysed during the battle between Antonelli and Charles Leclerc.
Mercedes solve race start problems with clutch improvements
Track limits were not the only technical and driving-related challenge Antonelli faced during the season. The Italian also experienced difficulties with race starts, particularly during the opening part of the championship, when Mercedes was still working to improve its clutch system and launch procedures.
Unlike the track limits issue, where advice from his father and Matteo Bobbi played an important role, Antonelli attributed most of the progress with his starts to the work carried out by the Mercedes team.
“At the beginning, we were probably one of the worst teams when it came to starts, but I have to say that despite this, we worked incredibly hard and now we’ve improved our starts a lot,” Antonelli explained.
“In fact, sometimes we even manage to gain positions at the start, which is very positive.”
Although the improvement has been substantial, Antonelli acknowledged that Mercedes has not yet completely eliminated its difficulties in every situation.
“There are still certain conditions in which we’re not quite at our best, but I have to say that we’ve made a huge step forward. And that’s mainly thanks to the team, because they helped me find a way to be more consistent with clutch engagement, and they also improved the system a little,” Andrea Kimi Antonelli concluded.
The combination of more consistent clutch engagement from the driver and improvements to the Mercedes system helped transform an early-season weakness into an area where the team could occasionally gain positions.
For Antonelli, the progress with both track limits and race starts illustrates how important continuous improvement was during his title-winning campaign. While his natural speed had already established him as an exceptional prospect, addressing these smaller weaknesses helped him become a more complete Formula 1 driver.
His success ultimately culminated in the 2026 Formula 1 world championship, which Antonelli celebrated with an emotional reflection on his achievement. At just 20 years old, the Italian has already reached the pinnacle of the sport while continuing to refine the details of his driving.
More news about Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes
- George Russell admits to 50 difficult laps as Kimi Antonelli dominates in Austin
- Toto Wolff explains George Russell’s struggles against Kimi Antonelli
- Kimi Antonelli’s father reveals when he knew his son could become world champion
Leave a Reply