David Coulthard has cast doubt on Kimi Antonelli’s title credentials, warning the Mercedes youngster still faces his toughest test yet — beating George Russell.

Mercedes has made a flying start, as predicted during pre-season, to the F1 2026 with three grand prix wins and P1 at the Sprint in China. A perfect record.

David Coulthard doubts Kimi Antonelli title chances against George Russell

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But it actually hasn’t been a perfect start.

Antonelli crashed in FP3 at the Australian Grand Prix before being penalised in the Sprint in China, while Russell suffered reliability issues in qualifying in China and a lack of grip in quali in Japan.

It opened the door for Antonelli to take the lead in the Drivers’ Championship where the Italian, the winner in China and again in Japan, has taken a nine-point advantage over his teammate.

But despite his back-to-back grand prix wins, Coulthard is not sure of Antonelli’s championship credentials for this season.

The former F1 driver told ServusTV: “It doesn’t quite feel that way.

“They’ve invested a lot of time and had a long dry spell. Let’s wait for Miami, and then maybe we’ll understand how the technology is developing.

“Of course, he can become world champion. When you have a winning car, almost only George Russell can come close. He has to fight tooth and nail.”

But whether he takes the fight to Russell over the entire season or not, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is refusing to put pressure on Antonelli, after all, this is only his second season in Formula 1.

Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other invited media during the spring break, the Austrian made it clear that Mercedes’ objectives for the 19-year-old are to develop him as a driver, not put undue pressure on his young shoulders.

“When it comes to Kimi,” he said, “we’ve always been very clear in our objectives. In our first learning year, with greater performances, highlights, and then other moments where it’s going to be very difficult. And we’ve exactly seen that.

“And now we’re in a second year, and he continues to develop in a way that we have hoped to see and forecast it, but at the same time, not by increasing expectations to irrational levels.

“And, of course, in Italy, everybody wants to talk about world championships and comparisons to [Ayrton] Senna come up, which is something which I don’t enjoy to read, because he’s a 19-year-old that is most visible in Italy and it’s more about decreasing the expectations and pressure rather than increasing them.

“But he copes very well. He has a great personal environment. And I think in the team, there’s times where we put our arm around him. Others, times we exercise more pressure. But overall, everything is coming together as expected, of course.”

However, F1 commentator Alex Jacques reckons Antonelli may not be getting the billing he deserves. Jacques told F1’s YouTube channel: “George is the favourite, he remains the favourite, he’s got a lot of experience, he’s got a lot of know-how, and he’s a little bit unlucky.

Jacques said: “George is the favourite, he remains the favourite, he’s got a lot of experience, he’s got a lot of know-how, and he’s a little bit unlucky.

“I think everyone was ignoring how good Kimi was at the end of last year, his drive in Vegas was ridiculously good, had a couple of McLaren disqualifications but his race pace was very very good.

“He outraced George Russell in Brazil, held off Max Verstappen to the line, overall final five races he beats him three times. Key in there for me is George Russell has won in Vegas, he’s won in Brazil and George still has up and down tracks.”

He continued: “But at the end of last year, Kimi Antonelli was beating George Russell at circuits where George has won. Alright, end of the year, he’s not a championship contender, will it continue? It has continued.

“I think Antonelli was potentially at a higher level at the end of last year than anyone gave him credit for. I think it has been a wake-up call for George Russell. I think it could yet benefit George’s season that Kimi has won early.”

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