Antonelli interview: The title fight and his ‘different' Monza mindset

Kimi Antonelli is living his best life right now. It's the Italian's second season in Formula 1 and he sits on top of the Drivers' Championship with a 59-point lead over his team mate George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time World Champion whom he replaced at Mercedes in 2025.

Seven F1 Grands Prix have been won by teenagers and Antonelli has won six of them (four-time World Champion Max Verstappen won the other). He took his first pole in China this year and converted that into his first Grand Prix victory. The now 20-year-old went on a run of five wins on the bounce, which included dominating on the streets of Monte Carlo to win the Monaco Grand Prix.

Antonelli has hardly put a foot wrong all year, making the most of a very fast Mercedes and outperforming his more experienced team mate Russell. Even on the weekends when a little error creeps in or he struggles to find the limit, Antonelli has managed to find a way to rescue a strong result – like third in Hungary before the break and second in Zandvoort after.