At just 20, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli is of an age where many people feel they have nothing to learn from those more experienced than them. Having won eight grands prix this year, including five consecutive rounds from China to Monaco, he could almost be forgiven for taking that view.
Antonelli currently leads team-mate George Russell by 292 points to 211. Max Verstappen, sixth in the championship standings on 145 points, last week ruled out staging a comeback along the lines of the one that took him to the cusp of winning the drivers’ title last season.
“Kimi just needs to do what he’s doing,” Verstappen said when asked if he had any advice for Antonelli. “He’s still young and he’s still very early in his career, but he’s already flying. It’s just working.”
Ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Antonelli revealed that he is still learning from watching the four-time world champion’s racecraft.
“Max has a really incredible vision as well of the race, how to position the car,” said Antonelli.
“For example, in Madrid, in the second chicane, when I tried to go on the outside of Lando and then I bailed out and let him by, my mistake there was to let him by straight away because I knew Max was going on the outside in that [next] corner.
“Of course, he [Verstappen] must have seen the opportunity and went for it. That’s always fascinating because in a very short time he can read the situation well and can always, in this scenario, find a gap to get a position.”
Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
At Turn 1 in Madrid, both Antonelli and Verstappen short-cut the chicane – Antonelli because he had lost momentum after the first apex, and polesitter Lando Norris had already taken the racing line to the second apex. Verstappen felt he was crowded out by Lewis Hamilton before the second apex and had no other option but to go off.
Antonelli rejoined ahead of Norris, while Verstappen returned to the track ahead of Hamilton. This was the catalyst for the Red Bull pitwall to instruct Verstappen to hand the position back to Hamilton later around the lap, while Antonelli immediately let Norris past to retake the lead.
At the second chicane Antonelli ran off again while attacking and rejoined in the lead. Once more he most over immediately for Norris, enabling Verstappen to box him in on the approach to the right-hander at Turn 7, temporarily demoting the Mercedes to third.
Although Verstappen then let Antonelli by in the course of allowing Hamilton to repass, this was largely academic in terms of the ultimate race outcome because the Mercedes was the faster car anyway. The lesson for Antonelli was that if he had held on to the lead, even if only for a lap or so before relinquishing it to Norris, they would have been able to pull a gap to the chasing cars and be able to perform the swap without threat.
“I think also seeing him so close on track as well is how he can flip situations even when they’re not looking good,” continued Antonelli.
“I remember Monaco this year in FP3, they [Red Bull] looked quite far back and then in qualifying he almost put it on pole. With Max, what’s also great is the unknown at times, especially in free practice – you don’t really know his full potential because when it matters you always find something more and it’s really fascinating to see.”
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