Jenson Button fears Kimi Antonelli’s start issues will ‘get worse’ as key ‘problem’ highlighted

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Jenson Button fears Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s starts could “get worse every race” after the Mercedes driver once again lost places off the line during the F1 Sprint in Miami.

Antonelli has lost places off the line during every race so far this year, and he had worked on trying to improve his launches over the five-week break ahead of the Miami Grand Prix. But the 19-year-old admits his issue is “fundamental” and Mercedes have not yet delivered a fix.

The two places that Antonelli lost off the line during the F1 Sprint in Miami took his tally for positions lost at the start of races already in 2026 to 20. He lost five spots off the line in the Australian GP, six in the Shanghai Sprint, two in the Chinese GP and five in the Japanese GP.

Jenson Button fears Kimi Antonelli’s starts will ‘get worse every race’ after his Miami Sprint struggles

Antonelli says he did “at least” 100 practice starts over the break caused by F1 cancelling the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. But Mercedes have recognised that Antonelli has an issue with his clutch, which they only expect to address at the Canadian Grand Prix on May 22-24.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Until Antonelli can deliver a good launch, then Button fears his starts will keep getting worse following the Italian’s latest blunder off the line in the Miami Sprint. The 2009 F1 champion fears Antonelli’s poor starts will start to get under his skin the longer that his issues persist.

Button said on Sky Sports F1 (02/05, 20:05): “The problem is that it gets under your skin. It really does, when you have that many issues due to one thing, and you keep making the same mistake, or someone keeps making the same mistake.

“So, that’s going to play on his mind every time he pulls up to those lights. So, until he has a good one, I feel like it’s going to get worse every race.”

Antonelli won the Chinese GP despite losing positions off the grid from pole position, having been able to re-pass Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc through Turn 3 before reclaiming the lead from Lewis Hamilton. A safety car at Suzuka also bailed Antonelli out, as he won the Japanese GP.

Without the safety car to recover Oliver Bearman’s Haas, Antonelli’s poor start would have seen McLaren star Oscar Piastri win the Japanese GP. Similarly, the virtual safety car during March’s season-opening Australian GP helped Antonelli to still come home in second place.