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Mercedes are confident Kimi Antonelli will drive the full Mexico City Grand Prix weekend as planned despite suffering from a virus. The Italian racer, 20, is on the cusp of Formula One title glory and needs to only finish ninth on Sunday to seal his crown. But he could not speak to reporters about the prospect of that happening on media day, as Mercedes confirmed Antonelli would be absent from the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Thursday.
"Kimi is feeling under the weather today as he recovers from a viral illness," a spokesperson told us. "As a precaution, the FIA have excused him from his mandatory media duties to give him the chance to rest head of the weekend. We expect him to be back tomorrow."
He is not the only driver unaccounted for on media day in the Mexican capital, with Valtteri Bottas also absent through illness. His Cadillac team confirmed: "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."
Should he miss some of this weekend's on-track action, it would be a blow for Bottas whose place with Cadillac is uncertain. He has a contract to race for the team in 2027, but whispers from inside the Cadillac camp suggest they are considering their options and they may yet decide to make an unexpected change for next season, having handed Sergio Perez a new deal until 2029.
As for Antonelli, any prolonged absence over the rest of the weekend would only delay the invitable. In fact, even if he does not score a single point this weekend, only a win for either team-mate George Russell or seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton would keep them mathematically in contention.
Still, the 20-year-old is keen not to waste time before getting the job done. He said after winning last Sunday's United States Grand Prix in Austin: "We're very close [to the title], hopefully we can clinch it soon."
Antonelli's title charge has been remarkable, especially when compared to a rocky first season on the F1 grid in 2025 including a dire run of results during the European portion of the season. Team principal Toto Wolff used the Belgian Grand Prix, where Antonelli was emotional after being knocked out in the first part of qualifying, as an example of how far his driver has come.
The Mercedes chief 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.
"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]."
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