Kimi Antonelli has established himself as the dominant figure of the 2026 Formula 1 season, but removing the Mercedes driver from the championship produces a dramatically different title picture — one in which Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton move to the centre of the fight. Recalculating the 17 races held so far without the Italian reveals just how different the season could have looked.
In his second Formula 1 campaign, Antonelli has put together an exceptional run in the Mercedes W17. Apart from retirements in Barcelona and Silverstone and a fifth-place finish in Azerbaijan, he has reached the podium at every other Grand Prix and accumulated eight victories. His advantage is now significant enough that the championship could potentially be settled at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, leaving five races still to run.
2026 F1 standings with Kimi Antonelli simply removed
The first way of looking at the hypothetical championship is straightforward: remove Antonelli from the current standings but leave every other driver’s existing points total unchanged. That produces an extraordinarily close five-way contest.
- George Russell, Mercedes: 238 points, 3 wins
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari: 229 points, 1 win
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull: 221 points, 2 wins
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari: 215 points, 1 win
- Lando Norris, McLaren: 201 points, 2 wins
Only 37 points would cover the five leading drivers. Russell would hold a nine-point advantage over Hamilton, while Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris would all remain close enough to keep the championship wide open ahead of the final six rounds.
With two Ferrari drivers among those five contenders, the picture would also look considerably stronger for Maranello. The evolving internal balance between Hamilton and Leclerc can be followed through the Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton season comparison.
Recalculating every race without Kimi Antonelli changes the leader
There is, however, a more complete way to examine the scenario. Simply deleting Antonelli’s championship total does not account for the extra positions and points other drivers would have inherited in races where the Mercedes driver finished ahead of them.
Recalculating all 17 Grands Prix as though Antonelli had not competed at all creates a different championship order:
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari: 276 points, 3 wins
- George Russell, Mercedes: 268 points, 5 wins
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari: 251 points, 2 wins
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull: 247 points, 3 wins
- Lando Norris, McLaren: 229 points, 3 wins
One of Antonelli’s victories would not transfer to any of those five drivers. Instead, Oscar Piastri would inherit victory at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton would lead a Ferrari-centred title fight
Under this recalculated scenario, Hamilton would lead the Drivers’ Championship on 276 points, eight ahead of Russell. Leclerc would sit 25 points behind his Ferrari teammate, with Verstappen 29 points from the lead and Norris facing a 47-point deficit.
The gaps would therefore be slightly wider than in the simpler version of the hypothetical standings, but the championship would remain highly competitive with six races still available. Fans can explore how different finishing combinations would affect the remaining battle through the F1 Championship Points Calculator.
For Ferrari, the transformation would be particularly striking. Instead of Antonelli approaching an early coronation, the Scuderia would have Hamilton leading the championship and Leclerc positioned firmly inside the title battle. That would place both Ferrari drivers among the principal contenders heading into the decisive closing stretch.
Austin begins the decisive six-race run
The next stop is Austin, where the 2026 United States Grand Prix begins the final sequence of six races. Those remaining rounds form two consecutive triple-headers and will determine whether Antonelli can convert his commanding real-world advantage into his first Formula 1 championship.
The hypothetical exercise also underlines how decisive the Mercedes driver’s season has been. Without him, Russell would face a far less comfortable route to the title and Ferrari would occupy a completely different position in the championship narrative, with Hamilton leading and Leclerc still firmly involved.
The actual championship belongs to Antonelli’s remarkable 2026 campaign. Remove his results from the equation, however, and what remains is a close multi-driver contest dominated by the possibility of Ferrari fighting for the Drivers’ Championship until the closing rounds.
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