Mercedes "knew we would be in for a battle," claims Antonelli after a tough Friday at Miami

Mercedes entered the Miami Grand Prix weekend expecting a tighter competitive picture, and Friday’s running confirmed that prediction with striking clarity.

On a Sprint weekend where every lap carries added weight, the team struggled to find the right operating window in FP1 and carried those limitations into Sprint Qualifying. Despite this, Kimi Antonelli salvaged a front‑row start for Saturday’s Sprint, while George Russell was left frustrated after tyre‑management issues confined him to sixth.

The W17, a car praised all season for its balance and predictability, proved unexpectedly difficult to handle around the resurfaced Miami International Autodrome. With McLaren and Ferrari delivering sizeable upgrades, Mercedes found themselves on the back foot — a situation reflected in both drivers’ assessments.

Kimi Antonelli’s P2 in Sprint Qualifying was the bright spot in an otherwise complicated day for the team. The Italian rookie acknowledged that Mercedes had anticipated a tougher fight given the scale of upgrades introduced by their rivals.

“We knew coming into this weekend that we would be in for a battle,” Antonelli said. “Most teams have brought significant upgrades here and we knew that they would close the gap to us. With that said, I think we did a great job to recover from a difficult day to secure P2 for tomorrow's Sprint.”

Antonelli struggled on the medium tyre — a theme consistent across the garage — but found more confidence once the soft compound was fitted.

“I was struggling with the car on the Medium tyre but it felt better on the Soft compound. That gives me confidence that we have more performance to bring over the rest of the weekend.”

The Sprint, he stressed, will be crucial not only for points but for understanding the car’s long‑run behaviour. “We will need to work hard though to unlock that speed. The Sprint gives us the chance to score some points and understand our long run pace better. We will need to take that into account when making changes for Qualifying and hopefully set ourselves up for a good Sunday.”

George Russell’s Friday was defined by tyre overheating and a lack of balance through the middle sector — a critical part of the lap where the W17 had previously excelled. The Briton was candid about the team’s underperformance.

“Whilst today was Sprint Qualifying and therefore not the most critical session of the weekend, we are disappointed with how our Friday turned out,” Russell said.

“We were overheating the tyres in the middle sector and struggled to find the right balance with the car. We need to work hard overnight to understand why that was.”

Russell echoed Antonelli’s view that Mercedes had expected rivals to close the gap, but admitted the scale of McLaren and Ferrari’s gains was surprising.

“We knew our rivals would close the gap with their upgrades, but it was both surprising and impressive to see the size of the jump McLaren and Ferrari have made.”

Starting sixth, Russell is not optimistic about major opportunities in the Sprint but remains focused on improving for Grand Prix qualifying. “I don't expect the Sprint to offer us many opportunities and we're not starting in a great place; let's see what tomorrow brings though and hopefully we can put in a better performance come Qualifying on Saturday afternoon.”

Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin provided a detailed technical breakdown of Mercedes’ difficulties, pointing to issues in FP1 that set the tone for the rest of the day.

“It's always important to hit the ground running on a Sprint weekend and we unfortunately didn't manage that today,” Shovlin explained. “We didn't have the car in the right place in FP1, and the drivers were struggling to put laps together from the off. Our long run pace was more encouraging but still not where we'd like it to be.”

The team also faced operational setbacks: “Added to that, we had an issue that interrupted George's early running and another that brought an early end to Kimi's session, costing him laps on the Soft tyre.”

Those problems carried into Sprint Qualifying, where Antonelli’s P2 masked deeper structural concerns. “Our difficulties carried into Sprint Qualifying. Kimi faired better than George but it's clear that we have time to find overnight on our energy management and overall car set-up.”

Shovlin also acknowledged the competitive step made by rivals. “It seems our competitors have brought a bit more performance to this event than we have, but the W17 has been a well-balanced car at all the circuits we've been to this year and today it has been a handful. We will work hard to improve that for Grand Prix Qualifying and into Sunday's race.”