Mercedes Sacrifices Kimi Antonelli’s Home Race With Back of the Grid Monza Penalty as George Russell Braces for the Same Fate

• Mercedes has confirmed Kimi Antonelli will start the Italian Grand Prix from the back of the grid after fitting a fresh power unit at his home race in Monza
• George Russell will take a grid penalty of his own later this season, though Mercedes has not yet settled on which race he will serve it at
• Team principal Toto Wolff and two senior Mercedes engineers explained why the penalty lands at Monza rather than a later round, and how the cost cap is shaping every part of that calculation

Kimi Antonelli will start his home Grand Prix from the back of the field. Mercedes confirmed the championship leader will take on a completely new power unit at Monza next weekend, a decision that carries a minimum 10-place grid penalty and could push him to the very back of the pack regardless of how he qualifies.

George Russell is not far behind him. Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord confirmed the second Mercedes driver will also serve a penalty before the season ends, though the team has yet to decide where. Both drivers have run into engine reliability trouble this year, and both are now set to pay for it on track.

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Why Mercedes chose Antonelli’s home race

Each driver is allowed a capped number of power unit parts across a season. Mercedes have run into technical issues with both cars, and rather than patch the problem, the team has opted to fit Antonelli’s Mercedes with a full new package at Monza on September 4-6.

Speaking after the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, Wolff explained the logic behind timing the penalty for Antonelli’s own Grand Prix rather than saving it for later in the year. “With Kimi, we’re taking the full thing. Our calculations say that that’s the best track to take it,” he said. “Obviously, algorithms don’t take their nationality into consideration. We’re here to fight for a championship and not get the most PR. So yeah, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Monza’s long straights suit the Mercedes power unit, and the circuit offers more overtaking chances than most stops on the calendar, both factors in the decision to absorb the penalty there rather than risk it hurting Antonelli’s title fight at a tighter track. Wolff added that discussions over Russell’s own penalty were “ongoing.”

Two failures, two drivers, one looming penalty

Lord laid out exactly why Mercedes reached this point. “We have not finalised where George will take his penalty, but both drivers will be affected,” he said. “George retired in Canada, Kimi retired in Barcelona, and George also stopped at the end of qualifying in Hungary. Had that happened in the race, the impact could have been much greater.”

That run of reliability trouble has left Mercedes needing more than the four power units each driver is permitted this season. Lord described the calculation the team now has to make every time a new component goes in the car. “We must manage the remaining events so that both cars reach the end of the season with the freshest and best-performing hardware possible,” he said. “It is a constant trade-off between the risk of running high-mileage components and the points cost of taking a grid penalty and recovering through the field.”

Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said the team continues to weigh up whether earlier fixes have actually solved the underlying issues before deciding how far to push each unit. “Every race adds mileage and learning across Mercedes and the customer teams. Components are checked continually, and we assess whether previous containment measures have solved the underlying issues,” he said. “Our confidence in running a power unit to a sixth or seventh event may be higher in a few races than it is today, so the plans are reviewed after every weekend.”

A points gamble with history on its side

A back-of-the-grid start at Monza is not automatically a lost cause. Pierre Gasly won there in 2020 from 10th on the grid, Daniel Ricciardo took victory in 2021 in what was then only the fourth fastest car, and Max Verstappen won in 2022 after a five-place grid drop of his own, with Lewis Hamilton climbing all the way to fifth from the back of the field in that same race. Isack Hadjar turned a pit lane start into a P10 finish for Racing Bulls at the same circuit last year.

Antonelli arrives at Monza having extended his championship advantage with a second-place finish at Zandvoort, and he now holds a 59-point lead over both Russell and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton after 12 rounds. Lando Norris, the winner of the last two races, sits 83 points back and could close that gap further if Antonelli’s recovery drive falls short. There is also uncertainty hanging over the closing rounds of the calendar in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, which makes every point picked up between now and then count for more.

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The budget cap squeeze behind the decision

The penalty calculation sits alongside a wider financial reality at Mercedes. After a double podium at Zandvoort, Wolff admitted the team does not have the money to match the upgrade rate being set by McLaren and Ferrari. On the FIA’s upgrade declaration sheet, Mercedes have fitted 24 new parts to their car this season, against 37 for Red Bull, 38 for McLaren and 40 for Ferrari.

Formula 1’s cost cap regulations, introduced in 2021, limit how much each team can spend annually, and Shovlin said the way Mercedes allocated its budget at the start of the year has shaped how much is left for in-season development now. “It is the reality every team faces under the cost cap,” he said. “Formula 1 organisations must balance headcount and salary costs against the money available for hardware. They must consider how much of the current car was produced this year rather than last, how many spare parts to manufacture and how much stock to carry at the factory and with the race team.”

Shovlin said the team is already thinking about next year’s car as much as this year’s title fight. “If we believed these championships depended on having an update at Zandvoort, we would probably have found a way to achieve it,” he said. “We are in the enviable position of leading, so it is logical not to throw as many parts at the current car as competitors who are chasing. We must remain competitive this year while also thinking about the next championship. Being in front allows a little more long-term thinking. We have made calculated decisions about the most cost-efficient route to the end of the year. After every race, however, we reassess whether we are doing enough, bringing enough and whether anything can be pulled forward.”

He added that a team playing catch-up can spread its upgrades differently to one that is out in front. “By the time we race in Mexico, Brazil and Las Vegas, it does not necessarily follow that another team will have introduced more total performance. It may simply have released it in smaller, more frequent steps.”

For Antonelli, none of that changes the reality of Sunday. He leaves Zandvoort with the biggest lead in the field, and arrives at his home race needing to fight from the back just to hold onto it.

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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