Kimi Antonelli will miss media day at the Mexican Grand Prix on Thursday due to a viral illness.

Antonelli needs to finish ninth or higher to guarantee the world championship this Sunday in Mexico City and, even if he finishes outside the points, George Russell or Lewis Hamilton must win the race to extend the title race to Brazil next week.

Yet off the back of his impressive win in Austin last Sunday, his ninth grand prix triumph of the season, 20-year-old Antonelli is suffering from illness and has been excused from fulfilling his mandatory media duties from the FIA on Thursday.

However, Mercedes do expect Antonelli to be fit and ready to go for Friday’s two practice sessions at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

A short Mercedes statement read: “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 head of the weekend.

“We expect him to be back tomorrow.”

Antonelli, who is set to become the sport’s youngest-ever champion, has a 123-point lead over teammate Russell with 125 points left on the table.

The Italian is only in his second season in the sport, having replaced Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes last year. Only Hamilton and Jacques Villeneuve have previously won the world championship in their second season.

The race on Sunday starts at 8pm GMT.