Jacques Villeneuve warns Kimi Antonelli: "Now trouble begins"

Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s impressive start in the Formula 1 World Championship has stunned everyone in the industry: the Mercedes driver has won the last four Grands Prix and is clearly leading the championship standings ahead of teammate George Russell. The 19-year-old driver from Bologna, in his second season in F1, is thus suddenly thrown into a new reality, and former world champion Jacques Villeneuve tried to warn him.

“He has to keep his head cool, not start believing too much in his own hype,” said the 1997 world champion. “It’s a very dangerous thing to do. When you think you’re untouchable, that’s when mistakes and trouble happen. There’s a retirement, you have an accident, and suddenly you start doubting yourself. So that’s the big risk.”

“Right now he’s driving on the limit every lap, to the point where you think ‘Wow, how does he keep the car on the track?’, things are going well, everything is going right. It’s not always going to be like that. So how will you react when something goes wrong? That will be the key thing,” continued the former Canadian driver.

“At the moment in any case he is faster than George. He is dominating him. What is important for the team is for George to wake up a little bit and start believing in himself again,” are Villeneuve’s words. “Is Antonelli already thinking about the title? Sure but the season is always a roller coaster, there are good times and not so good times. Then the other driver starts to believe, and it’s a roller coaster. So, we’ll see how it goes,” are the words reported by crash.net.