Max Verstappen Speaks His Mind About Kimi Antonelli
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen revealed in an interview with Sky Sports what has impressed him most about Andrea Kimi Antonelli during this first part of the Formula 1 World Championship. At 19, the Bologna-born driver—in his second season in the top tier of motorsports—leads the overall standings with a comfortable lead over his closest rivals.
Verstappen, who has always been a fan of his, had nothing but praise for him: “I think that, if we look at the top of the standings, Kimi has done a really great job. He’s really strong, really solid—the strongest on the team. It’s great to see him. First and foremost, he’s a good person and a very strong driver, so it’s a great combination. He’s also had some bad luck in a few Grand Prix races, but he hasn’t let it get him down and has been rock-solid so far.”
Toto Wolff has, for now, played it safe when it comes to the World Championship: “At the moment, it’s still too early to say he’s the favorite. There are still so many races left to go. One or two retirements can completely change things, and we haven’t been very reliable, so we have to keep giving it our all every single day, from Friday through Sunday.”
Kimi himself wanted to keep his feet firmly on the ground: “I think I still have a long way to go before I reach the level of Max and Norris. So, I think I’m doing a great job and I’ve had a good first half of the season, but there’s still a long way to go to get to their level.”
Antonelli leads the standings with 219 points, holding a 50-point lead over Lewis Hamilton and a 59-point lead over his teammate George Russell: a margin that, even when adjusted for the various changes to the scoring regulations over the years, can be described as the widest ever recorded at the summer break of a Formula 1 World Championship. Six victories under his belt—including the one at Spa-Francorchamps that made him the first Italian to win at the Belgian circuit since Alberto Ascari in 1953—speak to a simply dominant first half of the season for the 19-year-old Mercedes driver. The final race before the break, the Hungarian Grand Prix, saw him finish third behind Lando Norris and Verstappen himself, limiting the damage on a challenging weekend for the Anglo-German team.
