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Kimi Antonelli's lead in the championship after three races has surprised many people. Gunther Steiner is not one of them. The former Haas team principal has a specific theory about why the youngest driver in the Mercedes garage is currently faster than his more experienced teammate, and it comes down to the nature of the 2026 regulations themselves.
Russell Had the Edge Before the Season Started
Steiner was clear about how the picture looked before the first race. "For me George was clearly the number one at the start of the year, even before the winter tests. The team was completely built around him at that point." That reading was shared by almost everyone in the paddock. Russell was the defending season opener winner, the more experienced driver, and the one with the deeper relationship with the team's engineering structure.
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Antonelli Has No Old Habits to Break
Steiner's explanation for the reversal centres on something that has nothing to do with raw talent. "What you now see is that Kimi has no baggage from previous generations of cars. He has no old habits to unlearn, while George has to adapt." The 2026 cars are aerodynamically different, electrically very different, and demand a different physical and mental approach than anything that came before them. A driver who has spent years developing instincts in the previous generation of machinery is in some respects starting from a more difficult position than one who has never known anything else.
"Russell has driven a certain type of car for years. It is not only the power unit, the aerodynamics are also completely different. You really have to reprogram yourself." Antonelli, in contrast, has no programme to overwrite. "For him everything is new. He does not have to unlearn anything and can focus entirely on learning this car. That makes it easier for him to find speed immediately."
Steiner made one final point that underlines how deep this problem goes for experienced drivers. "If you have raced in ground-effect cars for years, you do not simply switch to something completely different. You fall back on what you know. Kimi does not have that problem. He can just get in and drive."
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
I. Hadjar
A. Antonelli
C. Leclerc
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