Mercedes reveal cause of dreadful Kimi Antonelli Miami F1 sprint start
Kimi Antonelli was not at fault for his poor start in the Miami sprint, Mercedes insists.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has absolved Kimi Antonelli of any blame after the Formula 1 championship leader suffered another dire start at the Miami Grand Prix sprint.
Antonelli started second on the grid for Saturday’s 19-lap sprint race in Miami but immediately dropped from second to fourth with a poor launch from the grid.
It marked the latest dreadful getaway for Antonelli, who has remarkably lost a total of 20 positions at the start across the opening three grands prix and two sprint races in 2026.
But Mercedes boss Wolff revealed was not at fault for his latest start woes.
“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.”
Asked about the poor launch, a Mercedes spokesperson told Crash.net: "Because of his battery issue, we didn't get to do a practice start from the grid before the Sprint.
"So we were estimating around grip levels, clutch percentage etc. Kimi hit the targets we set but looks like those targets weren't right."
Antonelli revealed ahead of the weekend on Thursday that Mercedes’ start issues are a “fundamental” problem that doesn’t have a quick fix.
“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.
“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.”
Antonelli finished fourth on the road ahead of Mercedes team-mate George Russell but was demoted to sixth after being hit with a time penalty for repeated track limits breaches.
It means Antonelli now leads Russell by seven points in the world championship.
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