Key Kimi Antonelli Aide Plays Down F1 Title Fight: 'Get All Your Ducks In A Row'

Kimi Antonelli's race engineer, Pete Bonnington, has played down talk of a Formula 1 title fight after the Italian driver's maiden victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.

In just the second race of his second season, Antonelli controlled the event at the Shanghai International Circuit from the front, albeit having to battle back past Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc after another stellar Ferrari start demoted the Silver Arrow from pole.

The result means that Antonelli now sits four points adrift of teammate George Russell, who finished second for another Mercedes 1-2, after the opening two rounds of the 2026 campaign, as it looks increasingly likely that the race for the drivers' title will come down to the duo, given the car's dominance so far.

Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Chinese GP 2026 | Mercedes-Benz Media

Tick all the boxes

But asked whether his driver was ready for a championship, Bonnington - affectionately known as Bono - told Sky Sports UK: "Well, that's going to take endurance.

"We've got two fewer races, but it's going to take a lot of endurance, and, yeah, to win one, that's great, to win a championship, it's exponential the effort that goes into it, and I think it's taking it a step at a time.

"Follow your procedures, just think about the process and don't get ahead of yourself. Don't worry, it will come. If you tick all the boxes and you get everything, get all your ducks in a row, it will come to you. So just focus on the task at hand, and don't worry about a championship. It will come."

Bonnington has been alongside Antonelli since he joined the F1 grid with Mercedes last year and has been pivotal in helping him turn around his form following a mid-season slump in 2025, where pressure began to ramp up on his shoulders.

The band are back together 🤩#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/DsIe9Laisg
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 15, 2026

The partnership follows a hugely successful stint for Bono with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, before the Briton moved to Ferrari.

And after Antonelli became just the second teenager to win an F1 grand prix after Max Verstappen, Bonnington explained: "With Kimi, he's putting a lot of faith in me, a lot of trust in me, because I've got the experience, he's got the youth, so we work differently.

"I am kind of teaching him, taking him step by step through the process of how we become a champion, and he's just ticked off the first step. So we need to just keep chipping away."