Such has been the strong form of Mercedes in 2026 that any Qualifying session ending with the best-placed W17 in P4 on the timing screens suggests that something didn’t go to plan.
That was the case for the Brackley-based team in Hungary – even before Kimi Antonelli received a grid penalty for a yellow flag offence in Q3.
A regular on pole position this year, Antonelli wasn’t quite in the fight this time, and ultimately he lost out to both McLaren and Ferrari.
His struggles with a tricky car were not helped by a yellow flag on his final run, when – as in Austria – Max Verstappen spun ahead of him. He was convinced he could have earned P3 had he not been obliged to slow.
“Yes, for sure,” Antonelli said when asked if the yellow had cost him a position. “The thing is, I had to coast all the way into the apex, and the lap before, the last corner was terrible, and I knew there was going to be quite a bit of time to be found there. Obviously it was a shame.
“But these things happen, and for sure it would have been P3, but still not good enough for P1. I think we were going to be probably seven-hundredths, eight-hundredths, shy of pole. Which was still surprising, especially after where we were at the end of Q2.”
Later, Antonelli was called to see the stewards for not slowing sufficiently for the yellows, and he was duly docked three places and pushed down to P7.
That added extra pain to what had already been a difficult day. Tyres were a key factor as the Italian struggled to get the fronts working at the start of the lap, and rears at the end of it.
“Yeah, it was both,” he said. “But I think already in the warm-up we were going over the peak of the tyres. So, just already from Turn 1, you could feel the grip was not there, and there was a lot of four-wheel sliding, especially in the last sector.
“Just really no traction, especially. And so that definitely first of all took away a bit of confidence, but as well, we had to make a huge step into Q3 – which is never ideal.”
This year, Mercedes have faced challenges from either McLaren or Ferrari at some tracks. However, Antonelli admitted that he was not surprised to see both rivals in front this weekend.
“We expected it, also because they all brought upgrades,” he said. “Ferrari brought a new rear wing, McLaren brought a new floor, and we haven’t brought an upgrade for downforce for a long time.
“So we knew. But I think we kind of lost a little bit ourselves in Q2, especially we were so out of the window with tyres, I feel, and that put us a little bit on the back foot.
“And having to make such a huge step in Q3 is never ideal, because obviously the car changed quite a bit, and just was not so easy to extract the maximum out of it.”
Expanding on the race to bring upgrades, the championship leader said: “We expected first of all that we probably wouldn’t have been fastest, but I think we were still in the ballpark in Q3. In that last lap, we were there, so obviously it’s a shame to miss out. I think we were still in the ballpark, which is still positive considering everything.
“But for sure this year is going to be a development race. Especially, McLaren did a huge step with the new floor. Also, Ferrari did a good step with the rear wing. We need to keep our head down, because it’s going to be a fight all the way until the end.”
F1 is all about marginal gains in every area, and Antonelli admitted that he also lost out by handing his car to reserve Fred Vesti for FP1, thus missing an hour of priceless track time at what has proved to be a very tricky venue this year.
It was his call to choose the Hungaroring, having already skipped the first session in Barcelona, where he didn’t have an optimal Qualifying, and had to settle for P3.
“I think I’ve picked probably not the best race to miss FP1,” Antonelli said. “Because also here conditions revealed to be much more challenging than anticipated. Also with the car, just much more difficult to drive.
“So for sure, it was not ideal, because probably with FP1 [we] could have worked a bit better maybe with set-up, also starting right off, giving a bit of a better input for set-up, and of course just getting into the rhythm with driving. So for sure, it was not ideal. But at least now for the rest of the season I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Attention now turns to the race, and Antonelli is optimistic that he can end on a high before the summer break: “I think our long run looks strong. Definitely quite a bit stronger than single lap. I think this weekend we lacked more on single lap rather than race pace.
“So, definitely something to look at. But hopefully tomorrow we can get a good start, and then we’ll try to do our best to pull out something.”
