Kimi Antonelli could hold a crucial advantage over teammate George Russell in the emerging intra-team battle for the 2026 Formula 1 title.
The Mercedes drivers are locked in a growing battle for supremacy at the front of the grid, winning the opening three races of the season.
Russell took a dominant win in Australia, before Antonelli bounced back to take consecutive wins in China and Japan.
As F1 prepares to return from its unexpected early season break, the next chapter of thei battle will commence in Miami, where Antonelli took sprint pole last season.
Former Haas boos Guenther Steiner believes that “old habits” could hurt Russell in his bid to better Antonelli for an ironic reason: his experience in the sport.
“For me, going into the season, George was the absolute favourite even before testing because it was the moment of George Russell,” he said on the Drive to Wynn podcast
“But then what happened now with these cars, Kimi just has no old habits. But George has to get rid of some habits.”
Kimi Antonelli to adapt quicker in 2026?
Steiner then detailed the immense changes between the new generation of cars that Antonelli is driving, believing Russell will struggle to adapt after five years of driving the ground-effect cars.
“He drove the old car for quite a long time,” he said.
“You’re not talking only about the PU with the EV power and all that stuff.
“It’s also the aerodynamics are completely different, you need to adapt.”
“Kimi, for him, it’s much easier,” he said. “He hasn’t got a lot to go back to. For him, everything is new, and he doesn’t have to get rid of anything.
“He doesn’t need to put effort in to lose some habits. He can just go and drive the car while the other ones have to just get away from the ground effect.
“The ground effect is not there anymore. As a race car driver, if you have driven the ground effect cars for five years, it is not that you can change from one day to the next and say, Oh, this is now different. I just adapted’.
“You always fall back to some habits.”
Steiner’s view is a new and unusual perspective. Complaints over the driving style of the 2026 cars is nothing new, but Haas’ former boss has clearly indicated that youth could trump experience in the short term.
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