Antonelli explains "weird" spin and car instability which cost F1 Brazilian GP win
by Jake Boxall-Legge · AutosportThe 2026 world champion had escaped from Norris on intermediates, but odd handling under the slick-tyre switch proved to be fraught
Kimi Antonelli vowed to put aside his Brazilian Grand Prix anger to celebrate Mercedes winning the Formula 1 constructors' title, as he rued the balance issues and the spin that took him out of victory contention.
The new world champion had picked up the lead from polesitter Lando Norris at the start, and was building a pretty healthy lead over the Briton in the opening laps of the race. He held the lead either side of the first round of pitstops, as the circuit was dry enough for slicks, although Norris' undercut had taken a considerable chunk of time out of Antonelli's advantage.
At the start of lap 20, Antonelli then lost the car and this precipitated a spin at the opening corner. He was able to recover, but Norris had long since bolted past for the lead - and it left the Italian in the clutches of Isack Hadjar.
Antonelli had reported before his spin that he was worried he'd picked up a suspension issue, and that the car was pulling to one side under acceleration - and his difficulty with balance cost further positions to Hadjar and Max Verstappen. However, no clear cause had emerged during the race.
"I'm very disappointed for the race. I'm very angry to be fair, but I'm going to put all this aside for now because the team clinched the title," Antonelli said.
"We clinched the title for the team, and they all deserve it and I'm very proud to be part of this group and this team who has done and still does so much for me and I'm very happy for them. But talking about the race specifically, yeah, very disappointing.
"We were on for the win up to that point. Also in the lead, once I was able to get some temperature I was getting to the rhythm. But yeah, the spin came which still is something I need to look at because I don't know why I lost the rear so quickly as well.
"Like no warning, nothing. But already to be fair when I put the soft, I felt something weird with the car. So, we need to check what happened but on the other hand yeah, shame because we lost the race there."
When speaking to Sky Sports, Antonelli expanded on the issue and noted that it was only occurring in the left-hand corners, particularly in higher-speed sections - which, around Interlagos, would account for much of the first and third sectors.
The tyre flat spots sustained in the spin made his life much harder; when he'd taken a second set of soft tyres, his improvement in lap time was demonstrable and this afforded an opportunity to challenge Hadjar late on.
"We need to check something with the geometry of the car, of the rear, because I had this issue only in left corners. So especially at the high speed was when I was feeling it the most," he told Sky.
"And the rear felt very unstable, even in coming into the finish line in the left kink, the rear was very loose, which was weird.
"We need to check something in the car to see if anything happened. But it was a very odd feeling. And then when I spun, the tyres were gone; all four wheels flat spotted. Only when then I put on the second set, we got back to pace. It was a shame."
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