Formula 1 fans have lost it after Kimi Antonelli was announced as Kimi Raikkonen during the Chinese Grand Prix podium ceremony.
The Italian driver was caught off guard as he walked out to celebrate his maiden F1 win at the Shanghai International Circuit, but for those watching from home, it was not clear what Antonelli had found so amusing. Later, Mercedes shared footage of the viral moment.
The video has since amassed over 850,000 views on X.
“Lol what a gaff to make. First win and gets introduced as someone else,” one fan commented, while another added: “Haha, he had one job to do. I was wondering why he was looking so confused. I didn’t catch it at the time.”
“That’s why he looked so confused. When I watched the race, I thought he had lost or something, like why would he be surprised about Lewis and George already being there,” wrote another fan, and someone else simply commented: “This is hilarious.”
Antonelli became the second-youngest grand prix winner in China.
“What an incredible day! This win is a fulfilment of one of the dreams I’ve had ever since I first drove a go-kart,” he said in a Mercedes race debrief.
“I want to say thank you to my amazing family and the incredible team at both Lauda Drive and Morgan Drive. I couldn’t have done this without any of them, and it means so much to take my first victory in F1. It was a very special moment for all of us.
“The race itself wasn’t easy. I lost a position at the start and had to fight back to get ahead. We then had to manage the safety car restart which wasn’t easy on the Hard compound. It was difficult to get the tyres working but fortunately we were able to before we were under threat from those behind.
“This has been a great way to close the first double-header of the season, but there is lots of work ahead. We aren’t taking anything for granted and will make sure we work hard ahead of Japan and arrive in Suzuka in the strongest position we can.”
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