Kimi Antonelli is nine days from a weekend in Austin that could make him Formula 1 world champion. As of this week, he is also a defendant in a Bologna civil suit that reaches into every pay slip, pole position bonus and race-win cheque he has banked since entering the sport.

The court has ordered both the driver and his Mercedes team to hand over copies of the contracts they signed, together with detailed accounting records covering payments made since Antonelli entered Formula 1. Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ Team Principal and CEO, was named in the order as the team’s representative in the proceedings.

Giovanni Minardi’s claim

Giovanni Minardi, son of former F1 team principal Gian Carlo Minardi, is the man on the other side of the file. His management company looked after Antonelli from the age of eight, well before the driver was signed into Mercedes’ young driver program. The suit challenges the termination of that original agreement.

The scope of what Minardi wants is wide. He is seeking between 10 and 20 per cent of money Antonelli has already received, and of money still to come under the former management deal, running to fixed salary, bonuses for pole positions, sprint results, Grand Prix wins, championship points and Mercedes’ finishing position in the constructors’ championship.

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Mercedes forced to open its books

For Mercedes, the court order is more than a nuisance. The team has been told to supply accounting records for every payment made to the driver since his F1 debut, and faces potential administrative fines if it refuses to comply. The judge has also not ruled out calling Wolff himself to testify.

That is the context the team wanted least. Italian outlets reporting the file note dissatisfaction inside the paddock at the way the case is unfolding during a championship run-in that has otherwise gone to plan.

Nine days from the title

Antonelli arrives at the United States Grand Prix with a 102-point lead over team-mate George Russell and eight wins in a dominant 2026 season. The 20-year-old can be crowned in Texas if he wins the race, Russell finishes ninth or lower, and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton no higher than fifth.

He is a Mercedes driver, so his sheet is already large; it is set to be far larger if the title arrives this year. If Minardi’s percentage claim were to stand on the figures that will come out of discovery, the final number owed would run into the millions of euros, a dispute the Italian press has described as reaching into 2028 under the terms of the original management deal.

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The United States Grand Prix runs 23-25 October in Austin. Mercedes and Antonelli must produce the contract documents by 6 November, with the next court date in Bologna on 19 November.

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