Kimi Antonelli’s F1 engine status revealed after Azerbaijan GP stoppage forces change
Mercedes had to change the engine in Kimi Antonelli's W17 after his on-track stoppage in F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix practice.
Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli appears to have got away without suffering major damage to his engine after his Mercedes came to a smoky stop during Azerbaijan Grand Prix practice.
Antonelli’s weekend got off on the back foot in Baku when he was forced to stop on track during first practice with a hydraulics issue. Smoke was seen billowing out of his Mercedes as marshals quickly attended the scene and deployed their fire extinguishers.
The break down cost Antonelli 35 minutes of track time in FP1 and he only returned to the track in his W17 for the second half of the second hour of practice running on Thursday afternoon.
A Mercedes spokesperson confirmed to Crash.net that the team fitted a new power unit on Antonelli’s car for FP2 so that it could clean up the extinguisher fluid and check it over for potential damage.
It was an old engine from Antonelli’s existing pool of power units, meaning there is no penalty associated with the change.
At the end of the day, Antonelli confirmed that the incident did not cause “much damage” to his engine, raising hopes it can be fixed and returned to his pool for the remainder of the 2026 season.
“I wanted them to spray a bit more because unfortunately I caused a bit of a fire,” Antonelli said of the marshals’ intervention. “Luckily didn’t do much damage but I was just encouraging them, but they did what they did.”
Despite having to play catch up, Antonelli ended FP2 second-fastest and just half a second off the pace set by his Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
“We tried to do the max with what we had. Obviously we lost quite a few laps in FP1 and then missing half of FP2,” said the 20-year-old Italian, who leads the championship by 81 points over Russell.
“It’s never ideal, especially at a street circuit, but overall I feel like it was a good recovery. I feel quite good in the car. A few things to work on but looking forward to tomorrow.”
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: "Kimi's day was disrupted. A hydraulic leak on his second run in FP1 brought an early end to the session after just three push laps.
"As a precaution, we elected to change the power unit, which delayed the start of his FP2 and cost him further running. Despite that, he was able to complete a useful mix of low and high-fuel work, and his pace was encouraging given the limited track time he had available.
"There is plenty to analyse overnight and some small gains to find, but overall we've made a positive start to the weekend."
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
