Kimi Antonelli crashes out of Brazilian Grand Prix after rear failure

Kimi Antonelli took the lead from polesitter Lando Norris at the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix, building a healthy gap before an unexplained loss of control on lap 20 ended his race. The new world champion admitted he was "very angry" about the result but vowed to put his emotions aside to celebrate Mercedes clinching the constructors’ title. He held the advantage through the first round of pitstops on slick tires, though Norris’ undercut strategy stripped away a considerable chunk of the Italian’s time margin. Antonelli reported worrying signs of a suspension issue before the incident, noting that the car pulled to one side under acceleration. This balance problem cost him further positions to Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen, leaving no clear cause evident during the race itself.

A strange rear-end failure

Antonelli described the moment of failure as having "no warning, nothing," which made diagnosing the root cause particularly difficult for the team. He explained that the instability occurred exclusively in left-hand corners, specifically within the higher-speed sections that make up much of the first and third sectors at Interlagos. Speaking to Sky Sports, he stated, "We need to check something with the geometry of the car, of the rear, because I had this issue only in left corners." The rear felt very loose even when entering the finish line kink, a sensation he found deeply weird given the lack of prior indication. This specific directional flaw suggests a mechanical fault rather than a simple driver error or track condition issue.

Recovery and final standing

The spin at the opening corner destroyed all four tires, leaving them flat-spotted and severely compromising his pace for the remainder of the stint. Antonelli noted that once he fitted a second set of soft tires, his lap times improved demonstrably, allowing him to challenge Hadjar late in the race. However, the damage was already done, and Norris had long since bolted past for the lead after the initial chaos. The new champion remains top of the drivers’ standings with 390 points, well ahead of Max Verstappen who holds 279 points. George Russell follows in third place with 262 points, securing Mercedes’ dominant position in the championship table. Antonelli emphasized his pride in the team’s achievement despite his personal disappointment with the race outcome. He plans to investigate the rear geometry issues thoroughly to prevent similar problems in future races.