Kimi Antonelli leads the championship, races at his home grand prix this weekend, and will start it from the back of the grid. That is not a punishment for anything he did on track. It is Mercedes running out of engines, and the timing could hardly be worse.
Mercedes has confirmed that Kimi Antonelli will not benefit from an upgraded power unit at the Italian Grand Prix, despite the team holding one of the upgrade tokens available under Formula 1’s Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities scheme. The new engine, as reported by Motorsport.com, is not due until the American leg of the season in October, either at Austin or Mexico City. Antonelli gets a fresh engine at Monza. He just does not get the good one.
Why Antonelli Is Starting from the Back
This is the bit that will sting most for the tifosi-adjacent crowd cheering on an Italian teenager at Monza: Antonelli has already burned through four internal combustion engines this season, and Mercedes is now fitting a fifth. That takes him beyond his allocation for the year, which under the sporting regulations means a mandatory drop to the back of the grid.
Mercedes did not pick Monza by accident. With 11 rounds still to run this season, and the futures of the Qatar and Abu Dhabi races still unresolved, every team with an engine problem is doing the same maths: work out how much mileage is left, then find the cheapest circuit on the calendar to take the hit. Monza, with its long straights and generous overtaking zones, is about as forgiving as it gets for a driver starting from the back. It is still a grid penalty at your home race in front of your own crowd, but Mercedes has clearly decided this is the least painful place to eat it.
The Upgrade That Isn’t Coming Yet
Here is where it gets genuinely awkward for Mercedes. The team has been granted the chance to introduce an upgraded power unit under ADUO, but has chosen not to bring it to Monza, saving it instead for the American rounds in October. That leaves Antonelli and George Russell facing a season using six power units apiece, which points to further grid drops before the year is out.
The obvious question is why Mercedes would fit a brand new engine this weekend rather than simply waiting a few more races for the upgraded version to be ready. The answer, unglamorously, comes down to engine pools rather than strategy. Reliability issues and what the team describes as terminal failures have eaten into the number of usable components available to Antonelli specifically, forcing Mercedes’ hand regardless of when the upgrade lands. Russell, by contrast, has used the same number of components as his team-mate but retains a healthier pool, having suffered fewer failures along the way. One Mercedes driver’s engine bay has clearly had a rougher season than the other’s, and it happens to be the championship leader’s.
Ferrari’s Different Problem, Same System
While Mercedes is nursing a fragile engine pool, Ferrari is using its own ADUO allowance for exactly the reason the scheme exists: to close a power gap. Ferrari has confirmed it will introduce its second permitted upgrade at Monza, having been judged to sit more than 4% adrift of Red Bull Powertrains, the benchmark manufacturer under the FIA’s measurements. The upgrade is understood to add around 15bhp, halving Ferrari’s deficit to what is still regarded as the strongest overall package on the grid, Mercedes’ own power unit.
Team boss Fred Vasseur framed it as incremental progress rather than a silver bullet.
“We are introducing an updated power unit as part of the development opportunities available under ADUO. It represents a step in the right direction and, as we know, this year is very much about marginal gains.” – Fred Vasseur
Ferrari’s problem all season has been that its chassis, by most estimates on a par with or better than Mercedes’, has been let down by the power unit. Sitting 87 points behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings, closing even part of that gap through raw horsepower rather than aerodynamics would be a meaningful shift heading into the closing stretch of the year.
Schumacher Tribute Adds Emotional Weight
Ferrari is also marking 30 years since Michael Schumacher’s debut for the Scuderia with a livery inspired by the team’s 1996 car, timed to coincide with the upgrade and the team’s push for a first Italian Grand Prix win since Charles Leclerc’s victory in 2024.
“Racing in front of our tifosi gives the whole team incredible energy and this year there will be an additional emotional dimension as we celebrate Michael Schumacher and the legacy he has left in our company.” – Fred Vasseur
Mercedes’ Bigger Headache
None of this changes the fact that Mercedes arrives at Monza with its championship leader starting from the back and no quick fix in sight. The upgraded engine sits in the wings, unused, while Antonelli’s current pool of components keeps failing at inconvenient moments. Mercedes still leads both championships comfortably, and Monza’s layout should let Antonelli claw back a healthy chunk of positions regardless of where he starts. But a team that keeps having to burn fresh engines mid-season on its title contender is not one that looks fully in control of its own machinery, whatever the points table says.
