Championship leader Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes): “I’m definitely not doing that”

With a 66-point lead over Baku winner George Russell, Kimi Antonelli heads to the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is being held at the Sepang International Circuit.

Back in Baku, the Italian took a moment to look back and then look ahead. “There are just races like the one in Azerbaijan where you have to be content with fifth place. There are also weekends when you don’t give your best, and that was one of those weekends.”

What’s next for the eight-time Grand Prix winner in Malaysia? Kimi says: “One thing I certainly won’t be doing is driving with a calculator. I don’t want to think about the points; I want to win races. And ideally, I want to win them often enough to wrap up the World Championship as soon as possible.”

“The fact that we now have six races in seven weeks suits me down to the ground. That way, I won’t even start brooding over the World Championship title. Instead, I can concentrate fully on my work on the track.”

Speaking about the Sepang International Circuit, Antonelli says: “A wonderful circuit, although I’ve only ever experienced it on the racing simulator. I enjoy getting to know new tracks, so I can’t wait to explore Sepang.”

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The weather forecast isn’t particularly promising, but even that doesn’t faze Kimi. “It’s true, we haven’t had a wet race in 2026 yet. But even so, I’m very curious to see how the cars perform on a wet track.”