Mercedes is confident Kimi Antonelli will take part in the full Mexico City Grand Prix weekend as planned despite recovering from a viral illness. The 20-year-old Italian, who needs only a ninth-place finish on Sunday to secure the Formula One title, was excused from mandatory media duties on Thursday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Antonelli rests ahead of title decider
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "Kimi is feeling under the weather today as he recovers from a viral illness. As a precaution, the FIA have excused him from his mandatory media duties to give him the chance to rest ahead of the weekend. We expect him to be back tomorrow."
Antonelli was not the only driver missing from media day in the Mexican capital. Valtteri Bottas was also absent through illness, with his Cadillac team confirming: "Valtteri Bottas will unfortunately be unable to attend today's media day in Mexico City as he is unwell. The team has taken the decision to allow him a day of rest, to support his recovery. This is a precautionary measure and does not currently affect his participation in the remainder of the race weekend."
Title implications and Bottas uncertainty
Should Bottas miss some of the weekend's on-track action, it would be a blow for the driver, whose place with Cadillac is uncertain. He holds a contract to race for the team in 2027, but reports suggest the team may consider an unexpected change for next season after handing Sergio Perez a new deal until 2029.
For Antonelli, any prolonged absence would only delay the inevitable. Even if he scores no points this weekend, only a win for team-mate George Russell or seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton would keep them mathematically in contention.
After winning last Sunday's United States Grand Prix in Austin, Antonelli said: "We're very close [to the title], hopefully we can clinch it soon."
Wolff reflects on Antonelli's progress
Antonelli's title charge follows a difficult first F1 season in 2025, which included a poor run during the European races. Team principal Toto Wolff cited the Belgian Grand Prix, where Antonelli was emotional after being eliminated in the first part of qualifying, as an example of his development.
Wolff said: "Many people that said last year after nine races without points, he shouldn't be in a Mercedes. People in other teams said he shouldn't even be in Formula 1, the tears in Spa, in parc ferme. And all of that, now it's extremely satisfying to see what he's able to deliver, how he's working with the team, with Bono [Antonelli's engineer Peter Bonnington] and yielding the results. But it wasn't an easy road."
He added: "So, I'm happy that, 99.9 percent, he still needs to finish the race in Mexico. So, it's either going to be a big tequila party or if it's not a tequila party, then it's going to be Caipirinha the weekend afterwards [in Brazil]."
