Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes lies on the Melbourne grass smashed to pieces after his crash in FP3 — Photo: © IMAGO

Australian Grand Prix

Mercedes in race against time to fix F1 car after HUGE Australian GP crash

Kimi Antonelli hit the wall with some force

Chris Deeley

Saturday 7 March 2026 05:25 Updated: 05:36

Kimi Antonelli's participation in Australian Grand Prix qualifying is in doubt after a massive crash for the Mercedes F1 star near the end of FP3.

The young Italian driver lost control through Turn 2 at the Albert Park circuit and hit the wall hard, damaging all four corners of his car and leaving his mechanics a huge job to make repairs before the afternoon's session.

Fortunately, Antonelli was checked over by medics and quickly cleared to continue his race weekend.

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A number of factors combined to work against the team in their battle against the clock, with FP3 starting (and thus ending) 20 minutes later than planned thanks to an earlier Formula 3 crash damaging barriers.

Antonelli makes the wrong mistake at the wrong time

There was originally a gap of two and a half hours scheduled between the end of FP3 and the start of Q1, but that looks to now be down to two hours and 10 minutes, wrenching precious time away from the Mercedes mechanics.

The teenager also did the damage near the end of the one-hour session, cutting the time available to get the wreckage back to the garage and in place to be worked on.

The fact that he damaged the car at the first race of the season won't delight his team either, as F1 organisations typically work with relatively limited spare parts early in the year.

A Mercedes spokesperson told Sky Sports: "The chassis and power unit look ok on closer inspection so the garage are working hard to get his car ready.

"No guarantee it will be ready in time as there is a lot of work to do but the team is doing its best to get him out."

All of this comes against the backdrop of a FP3 session in which team-mate George Russell made it profoundly clear that Mercedes have brought the fastest car in the field to Australia.

The team's senior driver only did one true qualifying simulation run at the very end of the session, but that lap was more than six tenths of a second faster than anyone had gone around the Melbourne track all weekend.

In theory, that pace should be setting the team up for their first 1-2 finish since Las Vegas in 2024. In practice, Antonelli may now have to fight his way up from 22nd on the grid on Sunday to get any serious points at all.

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Mercedes Australian Grand Prix Kimi Antonelli