Kimi Antonelli’s first run at Goodwood in the Mercedes PureSpeed
The 2026 F1 World Champion made his Goodwood debut piloting Mercedes AMG's roofless roadster up the famous Hill. He wanted nothing more than another lap.
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Kimi Antonelli marked his Goodwood debut at the 2026 Festival of Speed behind the wheel of the Mercedes AMG PureSpeed, a machine that left him wanting more: “I want to do more laps.” The Italian’s arrival at the Sussex hillclimb carried the weight of recent achievement; he had already claimed the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship earlier that season, becoming the youngest ever to do so.
The PureSpeed itself is engineered for sensation. This roadster dispenses with conventional protection, roof and windshield replaced by a motorsport inspired halo, and its 4.0-litre twin turbocharged V8 engine delivers 800 newton metres of torque, accelerating from standstill to 100 kilometres in 3.6 seconds. Few who have experienced it come away unmoved, and Antonelli’s eagerness to repeat the climb suggested the machine had done precisely what Mercedes AMG intended: remind a man who drives the fastest cars on earth why the road up the Hill at Goodwood matters differently.
Beyond the drive itself, Antonelli spent time meeting the crowds gathered for the event, a gesture that underscored the occasion’s peculiar alchemy: competitive moment transformed into shared memory. The 2026 Goodwood Festival ran from July 9 to 12, with Antonelli’s run occurring at a moment when his championship victory had already rewritten the record books.
Imagery courtesy of Goodwood Festival of Speed (@fosgoodwood).