Four laps from the finish, Kimi Antonelli was one bad vibration away from losing his world title. The new champion felt his engine start to struggle as the race hit its final stretch in Mexico City. He stayed on the track by sheer force of will, even though his car was covered in oil from a cracked sump. This mechanical failure nearly stole the iconic photo he wanted with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord revealed the full scope of the danger after the race on Sunday. He told High Performance Racing that the team took the floor off the bottom of the car and found it covered in oil, according to RaceFans. Lord described the situation as “a sign of the fact that this is Kimi’s year and things are rolling with him.” The driver lost almost two seconds on the final lap, though he later said that was because he was crying.
The High Altitude Trap
The root cause of this near-disaster was the thin air in Mexico City, which stressed the car’s cooling system in ways engineers did not fully predict. Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s Trackside General Manager, stated that special circumstances caused stress within the Energy Recovery System cooling circuit. While racing laps proved fine, he observed that high altitude could cause the car to stop under certain special circumstances.
Even though the team prepared for high altitude conditions, they missed this specific weak point in the driveability. Orihara admitted that 80% or 90% of the time the system works fine, but that special circumstance appeared on race day. He stressed that each race is part of a steep learning curve for Honda as they look to get some robustness for next year.
More Trouble for the Team
Antonelli was not the only one facing mechanical chaos during the event. At the race start, George Russell also experienced a power loss while approaching turn one. This issue allowed several rivals to overtake him right out of the gate. Lord stated that Russell endured most of these technical quirks and problems, with another issue occurring on Sunday.
Before a sudden de-rate struck him, Russell held a prime position to challenge for the lead into turn one. The complex bits of the energy rules meant he dropped back to P5 or P6 and got caught up in the mess with Hadjar. The situation mirrored Spa, where he was perfectly placed before a collision occurred at turn four. These quirks show that even the best teams can get blindsided by the rules and the track.
Antonelli mentioned that roughly four laps before the finish, he began sensing the engine starting to struggle. He was right on the edge of retirement from that race and yet it held together. The fact that he clinched the title despite this failure shows his mental strength. Even with an engine failure, he would have claimed the championship, though retirement would have denied him that moment with his heroes.