Antonelli botched start down to Mercedes ‘glitch’, says Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has moved swiftly to defend Kimi Antonelli after the championship leader’s latest poor start in Miami, revealing a technical fault – not driver error – was to blame.

Antonelli’s sluggish getaway in Saturday’s Sprint at the Miami International Autodrome saw him tumble from second on the grid to fourth within seconds, continuing a troubling pattern that has already cost him 20 positions across race starts this season.

While questions immediately resurfaced about Antonelli’s recurring launch issues, Wolff was unequivocal in shifting responsibility away from his young driver.

“We knew that we are a little bit out of sync with our upgrades that are coming from [the next round in] Montreal,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.

“But we were hoping that we'd be able to hold on now in terms of fewer lap times we do. But obviously if you have such a bad getaway, which wasn't at all Kimi's fault, it was a glitch on our side - it's difficult.”

The admission underlines a deeper technical challenge within Mercedes’ current package, with the team already acknowledging it is playing catch-up on upgrades compared to rivals who brought significant developments to Miami.

Antonelli: frustration after ‘doing everything right’

For Antonelli, the setback was particularly hard to take given his own confidence in the procedure leading up to the start.

“We've been doing work over the break and on my side for once I did everything right with the procedures, so we need to check what happened,” the Italian teenager told Sky Sports F1.

“The grip was very low, probably lower than we expected and then after that I was really frustrated, I didn't even drive well, I did a lot of mistakes.”

That frustration spilled into the remainder of his Sprint. Despite initially recovering to finish fourth on the road ahead of teammate George Russell, Antonelli’s race unraveled slightly as errors crept in.

“I got track limits which is something that I need to avoid, but this weekend definitely has been more difficult, but was expected with everyone bringing big upgrades. We’ve just got to try to maximise the result and focus on qualifying,” he concluded.

• Miami Grand Prix - Sprint Race results

A post-race penalty for repeated track limits violations ultimately dropped him to sixth in the final classification, compounding the damage from the poor start.

Despite the setback, Antonelli remains at the top of the standings – though his advantage has been trimmed. His lead over Russell now stands at just seven points, as Mercedes faces increasing pressure from a resurgent McLaren and improving Ferrari.

For Wolff and Mercedes, the message is clear: the problem isn’t behind the wheel – but fixing it quickly could prove decisive in the title fight.

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