If Kimi Antonelli feels any pressure as the favourite to take the Formula One world championship at just 20 years old and in his second year in the sport, it is imperceptible. He admits F1 can be brutal but a thing of beauty too, a labour of love for the Italian who has been a revelation this season.
Compelling and brilliant, that he is also endearing and likable marks Antonelli out as more than just a potential champion. Sitting in the Mercedes motorhome it is impossible not to be struck by how young he looks, the tousled hair, engaging smile and eyes gleaming with youthful enthusiasm. He speaks with an open candour, the air of a kid in a sweetshop who still can’t quite believe all those sherbet lemons are there for the taking.
It is striking precisely because so many F1 drivers lose this sense of exhilaration all too soon in their careers, and it is almost infectious. Yet for all that his F1 career has been brief after making his debut for Mercedes last season, it has been quite the ride since he climbed into a kart as a five-year-old.
“I do what I love to do, it’s something that I’ve dreamt of for such a long time and I want to enjoy it fully,” he says with the smile that it is very much the Antonelli default expression.
“But it’s different, because growing up you just see the races, the drivers driving, you don’t see what’s behind all of that. Last year I probably would have said different things compared to this year, especially because I think the F1 environment is very brutal. It’s great, but at times it can be very, very brutal.
“I feel like last year I suffered a bit from that when there was a lot of speculation about my future, it was difficult for me, but thanks to the team and to my family and all the support I had, I was able to overcome that, but that was a thing that as a kid I didn’t see it coming until I actually experienced it.”
A rocky debut season and public debate over his future in F1 – for all that it was never entertained at Mercedes – was borne with great fortitude and he has come out the other side a stronger character and delivered emphatically on his great promise. Antonelli leads the drivers’ championship, ahead of his Mercedes teammate, George Russell, and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton by a whopping 59 points.
The youngster has learned hard and he has learned fast. When he made a mistake on the penultimate lap at last season’s Qatar Grand Prix, with Lando Norris passing him, he was subjected to a torrent of abuse and absurd accusations that he had moved over for the British driver, who went on to take the title.
“After Qatar all the, let’s say, the hate … what was hard for me in Qatar was getting blamed for something that I would never do,” he says. “To get really criticised publicly, openly about something that I would never do on purpose, it was tough.”
Antonelli is admirable because he does not shy away from addressing these questions. He is self-aware to an extent that belies his years. If he must still be considered the kid in F1, he wears a personable maturity more comfortably than many of his contemporaries in the sport.
On track his driving has spoken for itself this season, not least in the five consecutive wins he delivered from the Chinese to Monaco grands prix, which has put him in such a dominant championship position. His team, from Toto Wolff down, recognise they have not only a special talent but also a special person, for whom being in F1 is a very simple and very human equation.
“I always try to be myself,” he says. “This is the way I am, I feel like it’s good with the mechanics, with the team, to joke around a little bit when it’s the right time. Just to create an even better environment and I think if you’re able also to connect in that way with the team all of us are able to enjoy even more the weekend together, working together.
“Of course there are certain situations where I might be a bit more serious than usual but at the end of the day myself is being positive, smiling, having fun, joking with the mechanics, with the team in general and then just driving the car as fast as I can.”
At which he excels. The competitive verve of his driving style is enthralling, even as the bravura approach might obscure what is clearly an immaculate touch in a controlled, intuitive balancing of a car at its very limit. It has put him in unprecedented territory.
The last Italian to win the world championship was Alberto Ascari in 1953 and the country has embraced their wunderkind in the German marque wholeheartedly. For all that Ferrari is a religion in Italy, in Monza Antonelli has brought Mercedes into the faith.
Yet the young man remains so grounded. That his father, Marco, a former driver, has played such a huge part in his career has been key and for which he deserves much credit as Antonelli acknowledges what is clearly a fundamental bond.
“My dad always comes to most of the races, we have a really strong relationship, he’s kind of my rock,” Antonelli says. “I feel like my dad knows me inside out. I always like to discuss with him because it’s what we’ve been used to since I was in karting.
“He’s going to give me advice and then if I decide to listen, good, but if I don’t decide to listen, it’s OK as well. He always tells me that I need to be also free to take my own decisions about things, that I don’t need to be stuck by what he says.”
This weekend Antonelli and Mercedes have already made one decision which is to put the title tilt first. The Italian is taking a raft of new engine components for which he will receive a penalty that means he will start from the back of the grid. He recognises that the overtaking opportunities at Monza made this the right choice, even as he deals with the weight on his shoulders as the home hero.
“Being Italian I know how we can think, how we can react and I know as an Italian when we get excited about something we create expectations – very high expectations,” he says. “But then when something bad happens then we’re like completely the opposite, we tend to exaggerate things. So I’m aware of the expectations, but I’m also happy about the support that I received.”
The bigger picture is the plan for this engaging young man, who only turned 20 late last month. Should it work out, and few would bet against Antonelli at this point, he hopes the Mercedes team will be singing from his songsheet of the Italian national anthem when he is world champion.
“I mean, they’ve got to learn it,” he says, eyes gleaming. “If I achieve the goal by the end of the year then I’m going to print the lyrics so then they can.”
