ZANDVOORT, Netherlands, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli will take a grid penalty of at least 10 places and could start at the back for his home Italian Grand Prix next month due to an engine change, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said.
Antonelli, who has a 59-point lead over teammate George Russell and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, finished second in Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix behind McLaren's reigning champion Lando Norris.
Monza, the next race, will be his first home race of the season and comes after his20th birthday next week.
The grid drop for exceeding the season's allocation of parts will depend on how many power unit components Antonelli replaces but Wolff indicated that the change would be significant and necessary.
"With Kimi we are taking the full thing," Wolff told reporters.
"In theory, our calculations say that (Monza) is the best track to take it (the penalty). Obviously our algorithms don't take the nationality into consideration. But it is a fight for a championship and not to get the most PR. So that's what we are going to do," Wolff said.
Antonelli won five races in a row earlier in the season, six in total so far, and is on course to become Italy's first world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953 — a sensational development for a country more used to cheering for Ferrari.
Wolff said discussions with Russell on when to take a similar penalty were ongoing but he would also have to take one.
Monza is the fastest track on the calendar and one where straight-line speed is key. Overtaking is less of a problem than elsewhere and a new engine will give Antonelli a boost in performance even if he starts toward the back.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Mark Porter)
