AThe undeniable highlight of this Formula One season, marked by dissatisfaction with the new regulations, was taken away by the sheer joy that budding world champion Kimi Antonelli demonstrated en route to a title he will almost surely win this weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Antonelli was still a teenager for the first half of the year and it seemed appropriate to describe him as such. His exuberant enthusiasm to compete for Mercedes at the top of F1 in his second season was that of any 19-year-old. Like discovering a life-changing new band or how much fun you can have with a cold beer, a wide smile barely disappeared from his face.
He is 20 now, he is still just a youngster and on Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez, if he finishes in ninth place or better, he will be the youngest F1 world champion and the first Italian to win the title since Alberto Ascari in 1953.
Antonelli admitted that at the age of four he couldn’t remember when Sebastian Vettel became the previous youngest winner of the title in 2010. “I remember playing with Hot Wheels, but I don’t remember him winning it,” he said.
This weekend, he will probably experience an unforgettable moment. Antonelli shone on the track, comfortable with the complex demands of the new energy-managed cars, extracting such pace and control that even his more experienced Mercedes teammate, George Russell, was left in his wake. To which he combined a sharp and incisive conduct that was sometimes extraordinary and a judgment that belied his age.
That he did so so eagerly, especially after a difficult rookie season last year, surprised many. Team principal Toto Wolff notably observed that he questioned whether Antonelli should even be in F1 after his debut season. Doubts are now definitively thrown into the dustbin of history, in the city where Leon Trotsky, the inventor of the expression, was assassinated in 1940.
It’s clear how much the Italian loves what he does and how that has influenced his performances. By his side throughout last season’s trials and triumphs this one is Peter Bonnington. Bono, as he is known, was Lewis Hamilton’s engineer during the British driver’s six titles with Mercedes. He and Antonelli established a close relationship, a friendship, with the Italian taking into account his colleague’s experience and composure, often referring to him and the importance of their interaction.
During Antonelli’s run of five successive victories in the first half of the season, the last of them was a striking performance in Monaco. Taking an exceptional pole position ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was in formidable form on the streets of the principality, he went on to take a remarkable race victory, including completing two restarts.
Afterward, Bono, who often has the avuncular air of an older brother with his younger protégé, gave an almost disarming explanation of what made his driver so fast.
“As soon as he’s happy in the car: happy driver, fast lap time,” he said. The team took an approach to give Antonelli the opportunity to ensure he could drive in a way that would allow him to truly be himself and, in doing so, take the pressure off.
Bonningham described it as “giving him the freedom to do what he loves, giving him the freedom to enjoy driving the car, that’s a really great thing and not stressing too much. He’s just a pleasure to work with.”
Trusting the youngster’s instincts and talent, when the temptation to micromanage him must have been overwhelming, worked wonderfully. Even though the opposition caught up and at times overtook Mercedes, Antonelli was able to hold on when a victory was not on the table. When it happened, like the last round in Austin, he stepped in to brush it off with a nonchalance that characterizes why he is elected world champion.
This makes the atmosphere in Mexico City all the more feverish, in what is already one of the busiest places on the calendar. Antonelli couldn’t have chosen a better place to celebrate his childhood dream. Fans here embrace F1 with the same passion as the Italian does for his profession.
With the race coinciding with Mexico’s Day of the Dead, the town and paddock are adorned with bright orange Mexican marigolds, the “flower of death”. Skulls and skeletons, candles and colors are there to welcome the return of the deceased in a joyous celebration which gives the weekend an already festive air.
The F1 faithful are also in high spirits as they welcome local hero Sergio Pérez back to the grid, with Cadillac and his image all over Mexico City. He sometimes appears as a life-size cardboard cutout, rather incongruously, in a row of fabulously dressed skeletons. But fans will no doubt also appreciate that this wonderful venue celebrates F1’s youngest champion in the intoxicating atmosphere of the stadium section of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Hamilton experienced it twice, when he took the title here in 2017 and 2018, and the seven-time champion’s assessment of Antonelli’s season was as telling as that of his former race engineer.
“You never know how someone is going to perform under pressure until you see them,” he said. “I could assume he would handle it with the weight you’re carrying. When you have to do all these appearances and all these things, shoot left, right and center. But he took it in his stride. He’s a relatively old soul in this young body.”
Antonelli was stood down from media duties on Thursday, with Mercedes saying he was unwell and needed to recover properly, but the Italian said he would like to finish the job in style and be able to relax for the remaining four races. There’s no reason to believe he’ll suffer from yapping, certainly. He has demonstrated no weakness so far even under the most intense pressure, with team principal Wolff sharing further insight into why the 20-year-old is ready to make history.
“In Austin, he came into my office, sat on the couch and said, ‘I’m going to enjoy this one. Isn’t that funny? I’m not thinking about the championship at all,'” Wolff recalled. “I said, ‘Keep that attitude. You have the best job in the world. Don’t forget that.’ He has the right mindset.
The best job in the world and one that he admirably embraced with this irrepressible joy. The right state of mind indeed. A deserved champion who awaits his coronation. On this form, not for the last time.
Gn sports
