Why Kimi Antonelli intentionally slowed down before the VSC

– For Kimi Antonelli, everything came together perfectly for the win at the 2026 Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix: The virtual Safety Car (VSC), triggered by Lance Stroll’s retirement, came at exactly the right time for Antonelli. It changed the course of a race that until then seemed destined for a victory by Lando Norris.

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When the VSC was activated, Norris had already passed the pit entry and thus had no opportunity to pit immediately under VSC conditions. Antonelli, on the other hand, managed to enter the pit lane at the last moment, completed his stop, and effectively took the lead in the Grand Prix. He returned to the track immediately behind Charles Leclerc, who had not yet pitted at that time.

Undoubtedly, luck played a role. But behind the decisive scene there is more: It shows how Mercedes reacted to the developing situation – and how Antonelli himself ensured there was enough time to wait for the VSC before his pit stop.

How Kimi Antonelli reacted to the Stroll incident

At the moment the yellow flag was shown and Antonelli was informed by his race engineer Peter Bonnington over the radio, the Italian immediately slowed down to gain time. He wanted to increase his chances of not missing the pit entry like Norris. So Antonelli deliberately slowed down.

Under yellow flag conditions, all drivers must reduce their speed. When passing through turn 20, where Stroll had come to a stop, Antonelli eased off the throttle significantly more than the other drivers. In this section of the track, he lost several tenths of a second to Norris and Verstappen – but gave his team exactly this extra time to make a decision.

This becomes even clearer when comparing data from lap 14 with those from lap 13, the lap before the VSC. After the yellow flag was shown, Antonelli passed through turn 19 at 29 km/h slower than in the previous lap. He also reached the braking zone before turn 20, where Stroll’s car had stopped, at 24 km/h lower speed, having lifted off the throttle much earlier.

The goal was not only to comply with the regulations requiring drivers to reduce speed under yellow flags. Antonelli wanted to maximize the chance to make his pit stop during the neutralization.

How much the Italian deliberately slowed down beyond the required measure is shown by a comparison of his telemetry data with that of Max Verstappen from the same lap. The Dutchman was six seconds behind Antonelli at that time.

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Under the same yellow conditions and before the VSC was activated, Verstappen was 15 km/h faster than Antonelli at turn 19. He also reached the braking point for turn 20 at 18 km/h higher speed and lifted off the throttle later than the Italian.

Antonelli’s behavior was, however, only part of the entire process: At the Mercedes command center, they had already anticipated that a VSC might be activated. This allowed the team and driver to react immediately if the race control actually neutralized the race.

Kimi Antonelli deliberately drives slower

“The timing was perfect for me: Bono warned me in the last sector that a virtual Safety Car might come. That’s why I lifted off the throttle,” Antonelli explained after the race.

“I deliberately slowed down a bit to see if I could catch the VSC right before the pit entry. And it worked perfectly.” Because the real-time analysis at the Mercedes command center had shown that such an intervention by race control was very likely. As soon as Antonelli saw the VSC signal, he turned into the pit lane.

Mercedes strategists decide in three seconds

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff later emphasized how quickly the information was passed from the strategists to Antonelli. The entire process took only about three seconds. “The chain of command, the whole process was great,” Wolff said.

“The strategy group had it on their radar, of course. Then someone said, ‘This won’t be cleared quickly with the Aston Martin in the wall.’ Then it went from strategy to Bono, Bono checked it again, and from Bono to Kimi. That was it. We’re talking about roughly three seconds.”

Whether Antonelli’s own actions actually made the decisive difference in this case cannot be determined with certainty. However, it could be another example of how well he can read a race.

Read more 29 km/h slower: The detail about Kimi Antonelli’s Spain victory