Kimi Antonelli appears to have avoided significant engine damage after his Mercedes W17 suffered a smoky stoppage during Azerbaijan Grand Prix practice. The Formula 1 championship leader’s car came to a halt in FP1 due to a hydraulics issue, with marshals quickly intervening to put out a small fire.
The incident cost Antonelli 35 minutes of track time in the opening practice session. Mercedes responded by fitting an old power unit from his existing engine pool for FP2, allowing the team to clean and inspect the affected engine with no penalty for the change.
Antonelli later confirmed that the stoppage hadn’t caused “much damage,” raising hopes that the engine can be repaired and reused later in the season. “I wanted them to spray a bit more because unfortunately I caused a bit of a fire,” he said. “Luckily didn’t do much damage but I was just encouraging them, but they did what they did.”
Despite the setback, Antonelli rebounded to finish second-fastest in FP2, just half a second behind Mercedes teammate George Russell. “It’s never ideal, especially at a street circuit, but overall I feel like it was a good recovery. I feel quite good in the car,” Antonelli said.
Mercedes engineering director Andrew Shovlin called it a “positive start” to the weekend, noting Antonelli’s strong pace despite limited running. With no penalties and the potential to reuse the original engine, Antonelli’s championship campaign remains on solid footing heading into the rest of the Baku weekend.
