Kimi Antonelli and other F1 drivers fell ill just days before the Mexico GP, and statements have been shared.
Kimi Antonelli’s dream of becoming F1’s youngest-ever champion in Mexico this weekend hit a bump today after his team said he’s feeling unwell—and he’s not the only driver dealing with this.
The long 24-race season can be really tough on everyone, especially with two back-to-back sets of races—the USA-Mexico-Brazil and Las Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi—that wrap up the year.
Antonelli was supposed to attend media events on Thursday at the track, but Mercedes has now explained why he won’t be there.
If Kimi finishes ninth or better on Sunday, he will break Sebastian Vettel’s 2010 record by becoming the youngest-ever Grand Prix winner at just 20 years and 68 days old—over three years younger than Vettel.
But his chances took a bit of a hit when Mercedes released a statement saying, “Kimi feels under the weather today as he recovers from a viral illness. As a safety measure, the FIA has excused him from media duties so he can rest before the weekend. We expect him back tomorrow.”
Kimi isn’t the only one struggling. Cadillac has said that Valtteri Bottas will miss his media duties too because he’s unwell.
The team shared, “Valtteri won’t be at today’s media day in Mexico City as he’s not feeling well. We’re giving him a day to rest to help him recover. This is just a precaution and won’t affect him racing this weekend. We’ll keep an eye on how he’s doing and update if needed.”
It’s not unusual for groups of people in the paddock to get sick during the intense end-of-season schedule. When triple-header weekends started in 2021, many team bosses warned that it would be very hard on everyone—and those concerns have proven true.
Former Aston Martin boss Otmar Szafnauer called triple headers “unsustainable.” Andreas Seidl, who’s led McLaren and Audi, said, “We should avoid triple headers to ease the pressure on our team. The calendar should try not to include them.”
Driver George Russell also spoke about the challenges, especially after the 2023 Las Vegas GP. He said, “Drivers have it good compared to others in the paddock. I’ve got a lot of mechanics and engineers who are sick because of the constant traveling, moving through time zones, eating differently, and adjusting to new hotels and climates.”
The F1 season is demanding, and these back-to-back races really show how much it can wear everyone down.