As he was making his drive for the top step after his first pit stop on lap 35, he noticed an issue with the car, but the team wasn’t able to identify it until it was too late.

Going over the kerb, his front left wheel shield failed, and it immediately impacted his performance, causing him to lose time and positions, but this wouldn’t be diagnosed until later.

Antonelli went into the pits on lap 42 for a new front wing and new tyres, the team hoping that would fix the car enough to continue a podium fight. 

The lap immediately after his return to the pits there was lots of communication over the radio with his race engineer, Bono. Antonelli was told to retire the car but he insisted on continuing the race, wanting any points he could secure. 

That is when the team diagnosed the problem and called him back into the pits on lap 44, with Antonelli reporting, “The car is not turning”. 

Coming into the pits on lap 44, the team tried to fix the issue by removing the shield entirely and sent the driver back out in hopes of a points drive. 

More communication is had over the radio after being sent back out and Antonelli reports it must be something deeper in the car as the issues persisted but he wanted to stay out and do as much as he could to get a positive outcome out of the race. 

As Antonelli was struggling to turn the car the FiA (Federation International de Automobile) awarded him with a track limits penalty of which F1TV commentators and former drivers thought to be unfair as well as the young driver himself. 

When made aware of the penalty, the WDC leader protested, “I didn’t do it on purpose, the car was broken! I wasn’t even gaining time!” The purpose of the track limits penalties is to discipline drivers who unfairly drive outside the lines to gain an advantage. 

The Mercedes driver was not purposely cutting corners to overtake other cars on track but was struggling to keep the car inside the track limit lines due to the ongoing issues, no fault of his own.

Antonelli continued his drive throughout the rest of the race, finishing under the safety car out of points in 16th, dropping 14 positions in 17 laps. 

Kimi Antonelli still finds himself leading the World Drivers Championship at 179 points, maintaining a lead of 25 points over his teammate George Russell after the 2026 British Grand Prix.