Kimi Antonelli has revealed that he was "surprised" to hear reports that Mercedes is set to be granted the opportunity to upgrade its power unit through the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) mechanism.
It has been widely reported that Mercedes' internal combustion engine (ICE) has been ranked by the FIA as the second-best on the grid, with Red Bull leading the way.
The German manufacturer's ICE is reportedly between 2% and 4% behind Red Bull's, making Mercedes eligible for one upgrade this season and another in 2027.
Ferrari, Audi and Honda are all expected to receive two additional upgrades in both 2026 and 2027, with the trio reportedly more than 4% behind.
Mercedes has won all six grands prix completed so far in 2026 ahead of this weekend's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, with Antonelli currently on a run of five consecutive victories.
The 19-year-old leads the drivers' standings by 66 points over Lewis Hamilton and is now excited to see what Mercedes can do to further improve its engine.
Asked if the reports of Mercedes receiving the chance to improve its power unit has come as a surprise, Antonelli explained: "Yeah, to be fair, I don't really know the decision behind it and everything, because obviously I'm not involved in that. So it would be better to ask the team and the FIA how this was assigned and on what basis.
"But for sure, at least on my side, I was surprised because I think our power unit is very strong. For sure, though, there were reasons behind it, and of course the team will now need to start working on trying to identify where we can gain even more performance.
"It's a process that isn't going to be short term; it's going to be a long-term process because finding more performance from the engine takes time.
"So definitely, the team has already done an incredible job with the power unit, and I'm sure they will put in maximum effort to try and extract even more performance now that we've been given this benefit."
Originally published by RacingNews365 —
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