How Antonelli is harnessing the best of Hamilton and Verstappen to become F1’s dominant force

Kimi Antonelli is on the verge of his first F1 world title in only his second campaign, and he has taken key learnings from Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to achieve this.

The Mercedes driver has drawn on the experience of the combined 11-time champions to reach the summit of F1.

Kimi Antonelli hails Hamilton and Verstappen for ‘rewriting F1 history’

Antonelli flew through the junior ranks, with his progress getting ever swifter after being signed to the Mercedes Junior Programme.

In his rookie campaign, there were glimpses of the Italian’s potential, but an error-filled European leg gave the impression that, while titles could be in his future, they may still have been a few years off.

However, Antonelli has been utterly dominant this year, taking eight Grand Prix victories to the three of George Russell, who had entered the year as the championship favourite.

This included a streak of five straight wins from China to Monaco.

In Malaysia, he finished second to Verstappen, while Hamilton, who Antonelli replaced after graduating from the junior setup, also featured on the podium in third.

Asked if he was consciously learning from the four- and seven-time champions, Antonelli said: “That’s a good question.

“Yeah, I think, you know, it’s always great to, first of all, be able to share the track, especially, in this case with Max and Lewis, because they’re definitely rewriting… Well, Lewis basically did the history of the sport, and Max is doing the same.

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“So I think, on my side, I try to learn as much as possible whenever I drive closely to them.”

Referencing how the championship-winning pair had managed the tricky conditions of Sunday’s race in Malaysia, Antonelli added: “This was a really good showcase of how Max handled the restart on slick tyres and the slippery track.

“He just knew much better how to position the car and had a better feeling for the grip in those first two corners and overtook me.

“So, of course, that was really good. Even though it was not nice to get overtaken, I was very annoyed with that; it was still a good way to learn from that and to use it in the future.

“And then, of course, with Lewis, I think we’ve seen many, many times, many years, that even when things go badly, he always keeps his head down and tries to do his best to achieve the best result possible.”

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