Why Antonelli’s success is bad news for Verstappen, and even worse news for Russell
Max Verstappen is running out of F1 options, says Ralf Schumacher
Kimi Antonelli’s rampant form with his fifth successive Grand Prix win isn’t just bad news for George Russell, but also Max Verstappen, says Ralf Schumacher.
After all, Toto Wolff now has a lead who can fight for a world championship with Russell “developing” into his “clear number two”, so why would he want to sign Verstappen to challenge Antonelli?
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Antonelli entered Formula 1 under Wolff’s guidance last season, with the Mercedes team boss conceding that any mistakes the Italian made would be part of his learning curve. And did he learn.
The Italian had a mixed debut campaign that saw his early-season highs followed by a mid-season slump before he recovered to record two podiums in the last four races. But with just 150 points on the board, he scored less than half of Russell’s 319.
It meant that going into this season, with its new technical regulations and power units, it was Russell who was the pre-season favourite for the title.
Six races in, though, it is Antonelli who has emerged as the driver to beat.
Although he lost the season-opening Australian Grand Prix to Russell on the back of a huge FP3 crash, Antonelli has barely put a wheel wrong – bar his starts – in the grands prix since.
The Italian is adding to F1’s history books week after week as he has extended his run of Grand Prix victories to five on the trot, every one of them won from pole position. That’s the most successive poles converted to victories at the start of a driver’s career of winning.
Added to that, his five wins on the trot tie him with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Jim Clark for the most successive wins. That’s P4 on the all-time list. He still has some way to go to equal, or beat, the 10 that Max Verstappen secured in 2023 from Miami to Italy.
The two could – according to F1’s rumour mill – be fighting for numbers next season.
Although Verstappen has made it clear that Red Bull is his “family” and Wolff has said he is happy with Antonelli and Russell, that has done nothing to silence the rumours that Verstappen could replace Russell next season and become Antonelli’s teammate.
But it’s a rumour that Schumacher reckons is quashed just a little bit more with every Antonelli victory. After all, why would Wolff want to change the status quo.
“I think Max is slowly running out of options,” the former F1 driver told Sky Deutschland.
“Toto Wolff has his foster son, who can now compete for the world championship. If he can implement that, Toto Wolff would be crazy if he brought someone into the team who is so strong and puts even more pressure on him.
“He’s had that before with Hamilton and Rosberg, it doesn’t make sense.
“A clear number two, which George Russell is developing into right now, would be perfect.”
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Antonelli raced out to a 66-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship with his Monaco Grand Prix, while Russell fell to third as he was overhauled by Lewis Hamilton. The deficit between the Mercedes teammates is up to 68 points.
Schumacher reckons Antonelli’s grounded family life, with his father Marco recently speaking about how the driver deals with the pressure of F1, has helped him
“He’s very grounded in type, has a great family, his father is always there,” said the six-time Grand Prix winner.
The question is how he deals with the pressure and expectations of himself. When you’ve won so many races, everyone from the outside expects it to go on like this forever.
“So far, he’s done it playfully because the car suits him well.”
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