Kimi Antonelli is currently avoiding a sanction, but Mercedes is closely monitoring a possible failure of his power unit.
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Kimi Antonelli could soon be forced to serve a grid penalty in Formula 1. The championship leader has indeed received a new power unit on his Mercedes W17 before the Belgian Grand Prix, a decision made by the German team after detecting a potential anomaly in the data.
The change, made before the first free practice sessions at Spa-Francorchamps, does not immediately result in a penalty. The Italian driver is now using his fourth engine of the season, which is the last unit allowed in his annual allocation.
The situation remains under close watch: at the slightest new replacement of a component related to the powertrain, Antonelli will automatically have to serve a grid penalty at a future Grand Prix.
Mercedes wants to avoid a costly failure
This decision follows concerns that arose after the British Grand Prix. Mercedes engineers identified unusual behavior on the engine used by Antonelli at Silverstone and preferred to act before a possible more serious problem occurred.
The goal is clear for the Brackley team: to analyze this power unit, fix the identified problem and, if possible, put it back into service later in the season to avoid introducing a fifth engine that would cause a sporting penalty.
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This preventive approach also reminds us that Mercedes is still experiencing reliability issues this season. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have already been penalized several times due to mechanical problems, causing them to lose valuable points in the championship battles.
Additional pressure for the championship leader
While Antonelli is having an exceptional first half of the season and leads the F1 drivers’ standings, this engine alert comes at the worst time for Mercedes.
The young Italian will now have to hope that his current power unit can last until the end of the campaign, otherwise he risks losing an important advantage in the battle at the top.
For the German team, the priority is therefore to quickly resolve this technical concern without compromising the future performance of the 19-year-old driver.
Mercedes also hopes to be able to reuse this unit after inspection, a solution that would avoid a penalty while retaining more margin for the final races of the season. But until the problem is fully understood and corrected, Antonelli will remain under the threat of a possible grid drop.
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