Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli will start his home race from the back of the grid. Mercedes confirmed on Monday that the 19-year-old will take a complete new power unit for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in a fortnight, exceeding his season allowance and triggering an Antonelli grid penalty at the one weekend on the calendar he would least have chosen.
Why the Antonelli grid penalty lands at Monza
Drivers may use four power units across the 2026 season. Mercedes’ reliability problems through the first half of the campaign made exceeding that limit a matter of when rather than whether: Antonelli is already at his ceiling on both the V6 and the exhaust system, while George Russell has no room left on either the internal combustion engine or the turbocharger. Team principal Toto Wolff said the decision was taken on data rather than sentiment, with Monza’s low-drag layout making a recovery drive comparatively cheap.
“With Kimi we are taking the full thing,” Wolff told Motorsport.com. “In theory, our calculations say that that’s the best track to take it. Obviously, our algorithms don’t take nationality into consideration. But we are here to fight for a championship and not get the most PR. So, that’s what we are going to do.”
Antonelli arrives at Monza 59 points clear of Russell and 83 ahead of Lando Norris, who has won back-to-back races in Hungary and at Zandvoort. Russell’s own penalty is still to come, with Wolff saying discussions over its timing are ongoing; Baku, another power-sensitive circuit, is the obvious next window. Full coverage of the title run-in continues on ReadMotorSport.
