Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli will attempt to tighten his grip on the drivers' championship on dwelling floor at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Nevertheless, the 20-year-old can anticipate to face a problem from a resurgent McLaren and particularly Lando Norris, who has gained the previous two grands prix.
And Monza is after all additionally dwelling territory for Ferrari, though the lengthy straights of the historic circuit might not swimsuit the traits of their automotive.
BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson solutions your newest questions earlier than spherical 13 of the 2026 season.
What does Lando Norris' new contract extension imply for Oscar Piastri? There clearly is a few stress behind the scenes and this season his improvement performance-wise has clearly dipped. – Juha
There isn’t any query that Oscar Piastri has not began this season in addition to he did final.
In 2025, the Australian for a big a part of the yr appeared on track for a primary world title, till his season unravelled considerably within the ultimate third.
This season, team-mate Lando Norris has gained two races – and will have gained a 3rd in Miami.
Piastri has solely appeared in rivalry for a victory in Hungary, when Norris took his first win of the yr.
After taking the lead when Norris made an error on the primary lap, there was some dangerous luck concerned in Piastri dropping the result in Norris, when he was delayed lapping Carlos Sainz's Williams.
However Piastri acknowledged it will have been troublesome to carry Norris again if he had retained the lead as a result of his tempo on the onerous tyres was weak. It grew to become educational when he retired with a damaged gearbox.
Though the qualifying head-to-head statistics between them don’t make nice studying for Piastri – Norris is 12-4 forward – on precise tempo, there’s not so much to decide on between them over one lap. Norris is just quicker by 0.071 seconds on common.
It's truthful to say, although, that Norris has been comfortably the extra convincing race performer – therefore the 55-point and three-place hole between them within the championship
There appear to be just a few issues at difficulty right here.
One could be that Piastri has at all times been sturdy in high-speed corners. However the numbers of those which can be grip-limited has diminished this yr as a result of the engines are sometimes utilizing them to cost the battery, one thing about which all drivers have complained. In order that reduces a degree of potential benefit for Piastri.
Second, the vehicles have much less downforce than final yr, and Piastri is much less comfy than Norris in low-grip circumstances.
Lastly, there isn’t a query that Norris upped his recreation persistently over the course of the second half of final season to win the world title, and has continued to boost his stage by way of this yr. With out query, he is without doubt one of the drivers of the season to this point.
Staff principal Andrea Stella stated on the final race within the Netherlands: "Final yr, we had seen already with Oscar that, from a technical driving viewpoint, when the automotive has this low stage of grip, like we noticed final yr as an example in Mexico or in Austin, he must adapt the way in which he drives, the way in which he thinks, the driving, his expectations.
"This requires a little bit of psychological effort, which will get him to lose a few tenths of a second since you kind of must course of somewhat than drive by way of pure intuition as a result of what occurs is what you anticipate.
"So it's a kind of circumstances by which it’s important to adapt your pure driving type to the demand of the automotive. So it stays within the area of driving and within the area of the technical facet of issues. I don't suppose it has something to do with any psychological form of alternative. That is purely technical."
Stella factors out that the highest three groups are very shut by way of efficiency, which suggests, as he places it, "as quickly as issues will not be optimised, then you could have a really important positional loss – it's very brutal from this viewpoint".
Each McLaren and Piastri reject any suggestion that there could be stress of their relationship.
It's a truth, although, that McLaren wished to signal Max Verstappen this summer time, and that if that they had it's nearly sure it will have been Piastri who was changed.
That risk has receded for now, with . However that contract has efficiency clauses, and if Pink Bull are nonetheless struggling subsequent yr, it might be that McLaren have one other go for Verstappen.
For now, Piastri is underneath contract to the top of 2027 at the least, and might be focusing solely on getting again to the place he is aware of he could be.
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Why are Mercedes selecting to take a grid penalty for Kimi Antonelli on the subsequent race in Italy? Why not take it at a future grand prix to offer Kimi a greater probability for a house win or is that this not a priority for Mercedes? – Michael
Mercedes have been fairly open about the truth that Kimi Antonelli will take a brand new engine for the Italian Grand Prix, and with it a big grid penalty that’s prone to imply him beginning on the again.
The fact is that early season reliability meant this penalty – for exceeding the permitted variety of engine components – was inevitable, and Mercedes have calculated that Monza is the very best place to take it for Antonelli.
They’ve tried to make the choice on details, and never let the emotion of it being his dwelling grand prix enter into the equation.
This determination might be based mostly partly on the truth that Monza has lengthy straights, and so is without doubt one of the tracks the place a brand new engine and its slight efficiency improve will translate most successfully into lap time.
But additionally necessary is Mercedes' evaluation of how the engines in his 'pool' can be utilized most successfully over the rest of the season
Staff principal Toto Wolff stated: "With Kimi, we’re taking the total factor. In idea, our calculations say that it's the very best observe to take it. Clearly, algorithms don't take the nationality into consideration. I'm not able to combat for a championship and get the very best PR. That's what we're going to do."
Antonelli's championship lead remains to be very comfy, at 59 factors. So he can afford to be phlegmatic about this.
He says: "In fact, it's my dwelling race and all that form of stuff, however, you recognize, I feel it's the very best race to take action. So, I feel it nonetheless will give me an opportunity to do an excellent end result and produce dwelling good factors."
George Russell must take a penalty quickly, too. That is most probably to be on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, for related causes to Antonelli's being at Monza.
Are Ferrari permitting emotion to get of their approach? It's maybe a stretch to say Ferrari can go on to win the title, however absolutely their greatest probability is backing the closest challenger? Are they permitting the emotion of their attachment to Charles Leclerc, and his historical past with the crew, to get in the way in which of creating the scientific, ruthless choices wanted? – Alex
Presumably this query is a reference to the temporary dispute between Charles Leclerc and the crew on the Dutch Grand Prix, when Lewis Hamilton was arising behind him on more energizing tyres mid-race.
We handled .
However within the context of the query, it's price mentioning that they really did ask Leclerc to maneuver out of the way in which to optimise Hamilton's race in Zandvoort.
Ferrari function a coverage of equality between their drivers and solely favour one over the opposite whether it is clearly within the pursuits of the crew.
That would work both approach, and the obvious time it will be employed is that if a race victory was at stake.
Hamilton is their closest driver to the championship lead, at 59 factors behind Antonelli. Leclerc is 28 factors behind the seven-time champion – solely 4 factors additional again than Lando Norris.
Hamilton and Leclerc have gained one race every, and the qualifying battle between them is extremely shut.
Hamilton is forward 9-7 on the head-to-head in races the place a good comparability could be made, however Leclerc is definitely barely faster on common by 0.053secs.
Past that, the query appears to presume that the crew would favour Leclerc emotionally. However why make that presumption?
Staff principal Frederic Vasseur was instrumental in getting Hamilton to affix Ferrari for 2025, however he has a protracted and shut relationship going again a few years with each drivers.
Why would he be emotionally related to 1 greater than the opposite, or consciously enable feelings to rule his administration choices?
Zandvoort is a good circuit and it's disappointing that they’ve pulled out of internet hosting the F1 grand prix for a second time. Is there any probability the circuit may return to the schedule a while sooner or later? – Lynne
In F1, one shortly learns to by no means say by no means, however the probabilities of the Dutch Grand Prix returning to the calendar appear distant for the foreseeable future.
The race was distinctive in that it owed its existence to the recognition of 1 driver – Max Verstappen.
The organisers did a formidable job to host a grand prix at a observe that has many logistical challenges, by way of each its location and its services, and to make it work financially for so long as they did.
It was extremely well-liked with Dutch followers. However the occasion was privately run with no authorities monetary help, and organisers determined that, as race charges went up, the dangers that the occasion wouldn’t flip a revenue had been turning into too excessive.
This determination was influenced by the truth that there had been a slight lower in curiosity within the final couple of years. Comprehensible, because the novelty wore off.
So organisers determined to finish the occasion after an excellent run earlier than any decline grew to become extra important they usually made a loss.
F1 has no scarcity of occasions with which to exchange it. Portugal and Turkey are each coming again to the calendar subsequent yr, for instance.
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