Legality of Mercedes F1 car questioned at Miami Grand Prix

Antonelli during practice in Miami — Photo: © IMAGO

Miami Grand Prix

Legality of Mercedes F1 car questioned at Miami Grand Prix

An F1 star has voiced their suspicions about Mercedes' car in Miami

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Friday 2 May 2025 23:52 Updated: 11:20

Alex Albon has questioned the legality of Mercedes' F1 car after he inspected George Russell's W16 during sprint qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix.

The Mercedes drivers of Russell and Kimi Antonelli both put on an impressive show during sprint qualifying and the pair made it into SQ3, but their pace caused concern for the Williams driver.

Albon voiced his suspicions to his race engineer via team radio, where he mentioned his fears over the legality of the Mercedes car.

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"I don’t know how that Merc is legal," he said, to which his team responded with a simple 'copy' to his message.

Mercedes set the pace at Miami Grand Prix

During the Sky Sports broadcast, David Croft and Martin Brundle speculated about Albon's comments and Croft wondered if Mercedes were running their car quite low to the ground.

“George Russell was saying in practice the car was sparking quite a lot so that would go hand in hand with a lower ride height. But he’s [Albon] spotted something that he felt was worthy of bringing attention to a wider audience!" Crofty explained.

Brundle also continued to speculate on what Albon had observed and added: “It’s not going to be some kind of aerodynamic measurement is it? Unless he’s got X-ray eyes! He’s seen something and it could well be he thinks it’s dragging very close to the ground.”

Despite Albon's concerns over the ride height of Mercedes' car the FIA have not contested the legality of the W16 or placed the team under investigation, and Kimi Antonelli's first pole position remains intact.

The Italian set a new track record at the Miami International Autodrome with a time of 1:26.482 seconds, and will be the youngest driver to start from the front row of the grid for Saturday's sprint race.

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Mercedes George Russell Williams Kimi Antonelli Miami Grand Prix Alex Albon