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Motorsport

Ed Hardy

Kimi Antonelli's Barcelona GP retirement prompts reliability concerns at Mercedes

Kimi Antonelli Mercedes FC Barcelona Andrea Kimi Antonelli Lewis Hamilton Toto Wolff

Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli was left feeling ‘emotionally empty’ after his late retirement at the Barcelona Grand Prix, which sparked reliability concerns at Mercedes.

The 19-year-old was running second behind Lewis Hamilton before suffering an engine failure that caused Antonelli to retire with three laps remaining on Sunday.

That handed the runner-up spot to team-mate George Russell, who also suffered an engine failure while leading in Montreal two races ago - both are expected to be battery related.

So, although Mercedes has made a dominant start to the 2026 regulation change, winning six of seven grands prix, there are still concerns as Hamilton’s Ferrari team attempts to close the gap at the front.

“I didn't see it coming,” said Antonelli of his Barcelona retirement. “All of a sudden I was at the apex of Turn 5 and the car just gave up. Is what it is, it's part of racing, so there's nothing we can do about it.

“It's a bit of a concern because we've had quite several issues so far in the year, so our package is really strong. It's a point that we need to work on because we're losing so many points in this kind of race.

“But I feel very empty emotionally right now because I'm still trying to solve what has just happened.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes (Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images)

The retirement meant Antonelli suddenly lost out on 18 points, causing his championship lead over Hamilton to reduce from 59 to 41 in an instant - meaning the title fight is far from done.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff expressed similar concerns over the growing reliability issue, though trouble also hit Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc who lost the power steering on his Ferrari late in the Barcelona contest.

“We can't DNF cars in a kind of regular, or continued way," Wolff said. "Losing 25 points in a Constructors' Championship in Montreal, and losing another 18 points today.

“In order to finish first, first you have to finish and reliability, this is what we need to get on top of. That's number one. So nobody's happy about that and we will leave no stone unturned to understand.

“You see at the end of the road you have 25 points and it's wide open. That's why we can't afford to not finish and we need to just keep putting performance on the car and on the power unit, not make mistakes, be clever with the strategy and stay absolutely on it.”