Lewis Hamilton denies Antonelli ‘pointers’ as key Toto Wolff impact spotted

Lewis Hamilton said he will not be giving Kimi Antonelli advice in his F1 2026 title battle with Mercedes teammate George Russell.

Hamilton won six of his seven championships as a Mercedes driver, but added that Antonelli has the “right support” around him to succeed, comparing it to the comparative difficulties he had at McLaren in 2007.

Lewis Hamilton refuses to offer Kimi Antonelli title fight advice

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The Briton, while qualifying that he “wouldn’t change it for the world” in terms of the experience of his debut season, explained that “things were a lot different” when he came into Formula 1, with similar support systems not necessarily in place to help drivers adjust.

Antonelli has won each of the last four races, becoming the first Formula 1 driver ever to claim his first four victories back-to-back, and has opened up a 43-point lead following Russell’s retirement in Canada.

For Hamilton’s part, he also secured his best race result to date as a Ferrari driver, finishing second behind the teenager in Montréal last weekend.

Hamilton was among the title contenders in his first season in Formula 1, narrowly losing out to Kimi Raikkonen in the 2007 standings.

Sat next to Antonelli, who’s in his second season at Mercedes, he confirmed he would not hand him advice in such a title run, given his and Ferrari’s own ambitions, though praised the work at Mercedes to help the teenager on the mental side of the sport.

“I think you forget that we’re competitors, so he’s already doing a great job. I’m not going to give him any more pointers!” Hamilton said with a laugh, before addressing his own experiences.

“I think just for me personally, when 2007 was the one I was fighting for, it was a lot and I was a little bit older than you [Antonelli], I was 22. I think things were a lot different back then.

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“It feels like it was just different back then. I don’t think I had the same support system that he has, for example, today in the place that I worked at, and worked in.

“Toto [Wolff] did a great job of surrounding you with the right support and I definitely didn’t feel that.

“The team were nice and everything, but there weren’t the right elements around to support you, to help you stay stable and guide you and it was pretty intense, especially in my first year.

“But I wouldn’t change it for the world, though.”

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