Kimi Antonelli has detailed the changes Mercedes has made to his car’s clutch paddle following a series of poor starts in 2026.
So far, from the six standing starts, including the two Sprints, Antonelli has lost places every time, although Mercedes did take responsibility for the Miami Sprint launch, having provided Antonelli with incorrect settings for the conditions.
The Italian has overcome most of the bad starts to win three successive races across China, Japan, and Miami – the first driver to ever win his first three races successively from his first three poles.
Antonelli has the opportunity to become the first driver in F1 history to claim his first four wins successively this weekend in Canada – and join Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen as the only drivers on the grid with at least four successive wins, something only 14 drivers have achieved.
“This weekend, we are bringing a lot of new things to the car, and there are a few bits about the starts,” Antonelli told media, including ApexF1News.
“We have a new clutch paddle on my side, just a different shape to help me be more consistent with the drops, and the team has been working hard on the software side as well to try to find more performance and make the system more robust.
“McLaren have the same PU as us, and they’re starting very well, so there’s definitely something we are missing, but this weekend, we are bringing a lot of changes, and we’ll see if it is going to be better or not.”
Turning to the possibility of becoming the first driver in history to claim his first four F1 wins successively, Antonelli pointed out Mercedes’ rivals would be eager to deny him yet another F1 record.
“Well, I did not expect to have such a strong start to the season, but I am definitely not complaining.
“I’m happy about it, and the first win felt like breaking the ice and stepping up to unlock a new level, and reaching the ultimate goal of winning the championship is probably the hardest, and it is going to be very hard to achieve that because it is still a long season.
“But I will try to focus on race-by-race, not thinking about the championship, but I am well aware of the position that I am now in.
“We have a really strong car, and have had a strong start to the season, but you just want to keep going, keep the momentum and raise the bar because the competitors are going to get closer.
“We saw in Miami that McLaren did a step in performance, Red Bull did a massive step, and Ferrari was a bit of an outlier, and I think in Canada, they will be back in good form, but the goal is to add the fourth win this weekend.”
