‘You need to give him time’ – Bortoleto brands Antonelli and Verstappen comparisons unfair

Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto feels that Kimi Antonelli should not be compared to Max Verstappen at such an early stage of his F1 career, explaining that he doesn’t “think it’s fair” despite the 19-year-old’s strong start to 2026.

After four rounds, Antonelli leads the standings with a 20-point advantage over his Mercedes team mate George Russell, breaking records in the process – he is the only driver in history to convert his first three pole positions to consecutive victories, which he achieved in China, Japan and Miami.

Although it marks a significant step forward from the Italian's rookie season, Bortoleto believes that any comparison to Verstappen – who similarly found success as F1’s youngest race winner at 18 before later winning four Drivers’ Championships in a row – is premature.

“Kimi is extremely talented,” he said when asked about Antonelli ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. “Verstappen level? You need to give him time. I don't think it's fair even to compare him to Max or anyone to Max because of his age first of all, because of his time in F1 and Max has achieved so much already.

“Let's keep things down and it's not up to me to judge anyone of my age. I don't think it's fair – I'm very close in age to him, I raced against him, so I don't want to be talking about someone that I feel I should be competing with.

“Right now he has a good car, he’s doing a good job, he’s delivering an incredible start to the season, winning three races in a row. I’m happy for him because it shows the talent that our generation has with Ollie [Bearman], Isack [Hadjar], me and the other guys that are maybe one year down or up.

“It’s just great to see someone young doing well and hopefully we all get the opportunity to have a good car and be fighting for that. I think he can definitely fight for the championship. He’s leading the championship, so he can win.”

Antonelli and Bortoleto both made their F1 debuts at the beginning of 2025 alongside Haas driver Bearman and Red Bull’s Hadjar – all of whom competed in Formula 2 the previous year, in which the Brazilian was ultimately crowned F2 champion.

While he is happy to see Antonelli performing so well at Mercedes, Bortoleto was adamant that he will also avoid making comparisons to his own results with Audi. So far, he has scored the team’s only points of the season with a P9 finish at the Australian Grand Prix.

Asked whether he uses Antonelli’s success as motivation, Bortoleto replied: “I wouldn't say it's motivating because it's not me in that situation. I'm happy that he's doing an incredible job, he deserves it, he has good talent. I’ve known him for a very long time.

“He's in a very good car and he's delivering the job he needs to deliver. He had a perfect start of the season and he's well-deserved leading the championship right now but if it’s motivating to me, it doesn't change anything in the sense that it doesn’t make me more motivated to do well.

“I have my work to do, I have my priorities, I have my project ahead of me and I'm sure we can do well in the future. We just need time and patience.”