Six wins, six pole positions and the Components 1 championship lead. Whereas one 12 months in the past Kimi Antonelli had confronted one in every of his hardest weekends in F1, he has now taken a candy revenge, claiming a victory that can mathematically permit him to go into the summer time break because the championship chief.
However the which means of Spa goes nicely past that.
The Belgian spherical, the place final season he struggled with a rear suspension set-up that by no means gave him the boldness he wanted, provides an ideal alternative to grasp how a lot the Mercedes driver has grown over the previous 12 months and why Antonelli’s driving fashion, past his appreciable pure expertise, is proving so efficient with the 2026 vehicles.
To know this, we have to look again to final season and the ultimate part of the earlier floor impact laws. These vehicles have been very secure but notoriously unpredictable, which is why the event of versatile wings, designed to boost stability and stability by corners, turned such a vital component of technical improvement.
Nevertheless, the second that stability was misplaced, floor‑impact vehicles would betray the driving force, snapping away out of the blue and with none warning. It’s no coincidence that through the years drivers repeatedly famous how tough it was to save lots of the automobile as soon as they pushed past the restrict. But the earlier technical cycle carried one other defining trait: the challenges of mixed loading, when drivers brake and steer concurrently on nook entry.
With the change from 13-inch to 18-inch tyres, the diminished sidewall top resulted in a smaller contact patch. Some drivers suffered from this greater than others as a result of the mixed part had been one in every of their biggest strengths. As they have been not capable of assault nook entry the way in which they needed, they have been compelled to adapt sure elements of their driving fashion. Pirelli clearly labored to mitigate the impact, but it surely’s clear a part of it’s an inevitable consequence of a smaller contact patch.
“In case you think about the rolling of the tyre within the longitudinal path, the size of the contact patch is shorter, and with a shorter contact patch, the transition in driving really feel between having grip and shedding it’s extra sudden,” Dario Marrafuschi, head of motorsport at Pirelli, informed Autosport.
“Because of this we perceive the drivers’ feedback; it was anticipated that these difficulties would come up throughout nook entry in managing adhesion, precisely as a result of the snap provides you much less warning.”
To know why these two components matter a lot this 12 months, we have to have a look at what has modified. This season, groups have discovered that mixed part has turn into much more advanced, because the tyres are narrower to cut back aerodynamic drag because of the new guidelines. Having extra entrance load helps forestall the lockups that may happen throughout nook entry, but it surely stays a tough space to handle.
A fast steering enter to stabilise the rear of the automobile
The 2026 vehicles have a extra unstable rear finish
Photograph by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Pictures through Getty Pictures
“We do observe that the part of coming into the nook whenever you brake and mix may be very delicate,” McLaren workforce principal Andrea Stella defined in Monaco. “It’s extremely tough to keep away from the tyres to lock. When you do not have entrance locking, you might have instability just like the tyres do not appear to have a lot capability of transitioning from the pure longitudinal to the pure lateral within the nook.”
However there’s one other component: the behaviour of the rear of the automobile. These new vehicles have a extra unstable rear finish in comparison with floor impact, but in some methods for the drivers they’re additionally ‘simpler’ and predictable. This permits drivers to play extra with the general stability. It’s no coincidence that from the very first day of this new technical cycle, drivers identified that though there’s much less pure downforce, the 2026 vehicles are aerodynamically simpler and extra pleasant to drive.
This dynamic makes nook entry and the preliminary part of apex entry extremely delicate. “To react exactly to that issue in studying the automobile on nook entry, some drivers are inclined to saturate the entrance tyres coming into the flip,” added Marrafuschi. “Saturating the entrance means they could enter the nook by giving a really sharp, fast steering enter, in order that the entrance finish experiences a step-input in direction of a excessive steering angle, which causes the automobile to are inclined to go straight.
“What does going straight really imply? It means it stabilises the rear extra, and the entrance positive factors grip progressively. This driving fashion of over-saturating the entrance inevitably displays on tyre put on and temperatures as nicely. I can affirm that once we analyse the tyres for every workforce, we measure and we do see variations.”
Antonelli has an aggressive fashion and tries to shorten the nook
Kimi Antonelli usually makes use of very sharp, fast steering inputs
Photograph by: Alastair Staley / LAT Pictures through Getty Pictures
One of many defining traits of Antonelli’s driving fashion is his aggressive method, constructed round shortening the nook radius. What does that imply? In some corners, the rotation part in direction of the tip of nook entry doesn’t occur easily, however slightly by a really sharp, fast steering enter, main him to make use of a major quantity of steering angle. It’s a fashion suited to drivers with distinctive automobile management at low and medium speeds, permitting them to rotate the automobile and settle it shortly.
“It’s principally my fashion,” mentioned the 19-year-old. “I attempt to shorten the radius of the nook, in addition to the time I spend between braking and the useless zone. I attempt to fold the nook up like a handkerchief. I flip on the final second, very aggressively. Let’s say I make the automobile work a bit extra. My fashion is a little more aggressive.
“Clearly the way in which you drive adjustments between qualifying and the race, however I’ve to say that in Barcelona I struggled a bit extra in qualifying as a result of I used to be asking an excessive amount of of the automobile, additionally because of the very excessive temperatures. The tyre dropped off shortly, to the purpose that in qualifying the rear was already gone after Flip 7. Let’s say it’s a fashion that helps on sure tracks, whereas on others you could must adapt it because of the circumstances.
“However ultimately each observe is totally different. For instance, at Silverstone I needed to readjust it a bit as a result of all of the corners are lengthy and quick, and this fashion didn’t assist all that a lot.”
And certainly, even at Spa this method was evident, particularly in Flip 1 and on the closing chicane, the place Antonelli would intentionally shorten the entry earlier than delivering that sharp, fast steering enter.
With the 2026 vehicles the drivers must assault to be fast
Kimi Antonelli and George Russell have very totally different driving types
Photograph by: Alastair Staley / LAT Pictures through Getty Pictures
This distinction in fashion between Antonelli and team-mate George Russell is evident from the onboard cameras and has not gone unnoticed by their rivals. Whereas the Italian favours a extra aggressive fashion that appears nicely suited to the what the 2026 vehicles want, Russell has all the time been smoother and extra progressive together with his steering inputs, an method that labored exceptionally nicely with the bottom impact vehicles.
“If we have a look at Russell and Antonelli, we do see that there is a totally different driving fashion. I believe it is fairly noticeable within the onboard and the way in which they use the steering wheel,” Stella defined in Monaco.
“The driving fashion positively has an impact. And we do see, trying on the lap occasions that Antonelli was capable of do right here and he was capable of do in Canada, within the race, these variations in comparison with anyone else should come additionally from the way in which you cope with the tyres. As a result of if it was solely downforce, then it could be an exaggeration and also you would not have these variations to the team-mate.”
Clearly, this is only one facet inside a broader set-up context, however for now, the way in which Antonelli drives appears to be notably efficient with these new vehicles, but it surely additionally requires distinctive feeling to make it work naturally. Based on workforce analyses, so as to extract their full potential, these vehicles must be pushed with an aggressive method, particularly in low grip circumstances. It’s no coincidence that in these low grip races the place getting the tyres into the working window is important, Antonelli was usually aggressive final 12 months as nicely.
Now having a clean enter could not repay.
“One other issue, this 12 months’s automobile requires drivers to always assault,” mentioned Stella at Spa. “Mainly, if you happen to attempt to smoothen out your enter, be clear, get the automobile to steer with the entrance tyres, which one would say, I assume, what you’ll count on, have an honest compromise between crusing a bit in entry to have exit, it does not repay for lap time.”
In a context that calls for an aggressive driving fashion and very fantastic tyre administration, qualities the place he had already proven final 12 months he may make a distinction over lengthy runs, Antonelli is displaying not solely that he can interpret the 2026 laws successfully, but in addition that he can capitalise on a pure expertise that permits him to take advantage of the strengths of his driving fashion.
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