Kimi Antonelli struck down by virus ahead of potential F1 title triumph in Mexico

Kimi Antonelli is entering his potentially championship-deciding weekend in Mexico under the weather and will miss media day at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Antonelli can win his maiden world title this weekend in Mexico, but will be doing it while recovering from a viral illness, Mercedes has confirmed.

Kimi Antonelli illness update ahead of Mexico Grand Prix title decider

Having come oh-so-close to wrapping up the championship last weekend in Texas, Antonelli needs to score just a ninth-place finish this weekend in Mexico in order to claim his maiden title and secure a new F1 record as the youngest Drivers’ Champion in the sport’s history.

But Antonelli now faces another challenge in the form of the physiological, as the champion-in-waiting has picked up a viral illness that means he will not be in attendance at the track for the usual Thursday schedule.

Thursdays are ‘media day’, which means every single driver is required to speak to the media, whether that be at the official FIA press conference, or in a team-organised session in the paddock.

Antonelli was due to appear before the media in the team’s hospitality unit at 1600 local time, 10 minutes after speaking to the assembled TV broadcasters in the media pen.

“Just a quick note that Kimi is feeling under the weather today as he recovers from a viral illness,” a Mercedes spokesperson said.

“As a precaution, the FIA have excused him from his mandatory media duties to give him the chance to rest ahead of the weekend.

“We expect him to be back tomorrow. Thanks for understanding.”

Separately, Cadillac has also confirmed Valtteri Bottas will miss his media duties, with the Finn also having been set to appear in a team-organised session.

“Cadillac Formula 1 Team can confirm that Valtteri Bottas will unfortunately be unable to attend today’s media day in Mexico City as he is unwell,” a team spokesperson said.

“The team has taken the decision to allow him a day of rest to support his recovery.

“This is a precautionary measure and does not currently affect his participation in the remainder of the race weekend. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates if necessary.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your understanding.”

Dr Elina Haukipuro warns of growing fatigue during F1 triple-headers

With the calendar packed with racing at the moment, as nine races are scheduled across 11 weeks, it’s perhaps unsurprising that drivers are starting to fall ill as this weekend marks the halfway point of this gruelling portion of the season.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with PlanetF1.com, renowned paddock physician Dr. Elina Haukipuro explained that there simply isn’t enough rest and recovery time between events to allow paddock personnel to physically bounce back weekend after weekend with such relentless pace.

“Even if you are very fit, you’ve done all the correct preparation, it doesn’t shield you entirely from feeling the effects of travelling, jet lag, heat, just performing constantly and not getting a break like that,” she told PlanetF1.com in an exclusive interview.

“So this is something that the drivers are gonna feel; the team members are gonna feel. This is something I usually see as well; the more we go to the end part of the season, the more people start to get tired.

“There are more injuries. There are more people getting sick as well. So this is something that we’re kind of anticipating, but we’re trying to prevent as much as probably or as much as possible.

“But to get a plan where no one feels the effects of the nine weeks is impossible with this schedule.

“Just physically, there isn’t enough time to reset after a race like that. In an ideal situation, once we’ve been to a place like Singapore, then the guys can just like relax for a little bit, catch up on some rest, do proper like fluid protocols and deal with jet lag and everything.

“Then, after a week, it’s time to go again, and that usually works out quite well. But now it’s back-to-back. We’re losing this window of actually having this proper time for recovery, like both physically and mentally as well.

“We’re losing basically all of that regular downtime for recovery and everything, so it’s a big ask. And then after that, again travelling a lot, getting triple headers. It’s very intense.”

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