Kimi Antonelli opens up on the gearbox issue he faced at the 2026 Miami GP as the Mercedes driver says the moment wasn’t as scary as it sounded over the team radio, on his way to victory on Sunday, May 3.
After a nervy Lap 1 with a lock-up into Turn 1 that saw him lose the lead to Charles Leclerc as the 19-year-old had a slow start once again relative to the cars around him, the teenager found himself with work to do in Florida.
The Italian had dropped down to second behind the Ferrari and set about attempting to chase down the SF-26, only to then receive another blow when he was passed by the McLaren of Lando Norris just before the safety car was deployed.
It marked a rare sight to see Antonelli moving backwards in this Formula 1 season as it looked as though things were not going to fall the way of the Silver Arrows, as Toto Wolff watched his driver slide into third.
But then came a change of fortunes when the strategy wall, advertently or inadvertently, found a way to get him out of a hole by pitting his teammate in response to the pace of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
George Russell’s stop pressured Leclerc to pit, which then put forced Antonelli to react to the trio behind him and the youngster produced an awesome out-lap to cash in when Norris received a slightly slower stop.
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Taking the lead, he then began edging away from the defending world champion behind him and opened up a small but management buffer by keeping the McLaren outside of Overtake Mode range, for the most part.
There was a brief moment when Norris sneaked inside and gained access to the extra power, but the Mercedes man found the consistency to ensure the car behind didn’t get to use the electrical advantage.
But then came the scary moment as Antonelli reported a gearbox issue related to his paddle shifting as it suddenly looked as though reliability could cost him victory, but he opens up and explains it ultimately didn’t affect much at the Miami GP.
“No, it didn’t really affect,” Antonelli told media, including Total-Motorsport.com. “I mean, just in the moment I had two, three laps where I wasn’t getting some of the downshifts.
“And then I had a couple of laps where it wouldn’t upshift from seventh to eighth. So, it was a little bit stressful, but luckily it was just a matter of those few laps and then it was fine.
“Obviously, it was adding stress because I was being chased and I knew I couldn’t make any mistakes, and that wasn’t helping for sure. But then it lasted very shortly, so I was happy with that.
“I have really good confidence in the car. Obviously, we’re in a great momentum. Hopefully, the package is going to work as we hope, but also McLaren is bringing another package and the step they made this weekend was very big.
“So, we just have to keep pushing, keep raising that bar, because we saw this weekend how much it flipped compared to the first three races. So, we just got to stay on top of the game.”
Antonelli reacts to start struggles at 2026 Miami GP
Antonelli has repeatedly struggled with race starts in the 2026 season as he often loses positions off the line to wheelspin on launch, inconsistent clutch bite points, and energy deployment quirks.
Together they cause the Mercedes driver to drop places even after qualifying well, but despite poor starts, Antonelli often recovers strongly during races and that was the case once again in Miami.
He struggled in the Sprint Race and fell well down the order, but managed to work his way back up to fifth before behind hit with a post-Sprint track limits penalty.
Then again on Sunday he similarly struggled to get off the line next to Verstappen, allowing Leclerc through into the lead – however, that was a relatively good start, all things considered, but he still isn’t happy.
“Today to be fair was not as bad,” Antonelli added. “I think I lost two places, Sprint I lost six, so a little bit better. But still, no, it’s not acceptable. I think especially in a weekend like this, that the gaps are a lot closer, it can really change the race.
“So, I think it’s a point where also together with the team we need to, because yesterday, for example, in the Sprint, procedure-wise it was good, but just the grip level that we thought there was, was just not there.
“So, I think also with the team, but for sure mainly from me, because I’m still a little bit inconsistent, especially on clutch drop. But I still don’t have that confidence, being consistent with that. I still have a bit of uncertainty, so it’s a big point that needs to be improved.
“But I think today I managed it better than yesterday. Yesterday I was very frustrated and today I just kept it a bit cool, a bit better, and just managed to move on and focus about the race.”
