Kimi Antonelli says he is surprised by Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen’s admiration for Andrea Kimi Antonelli is well known, and dates back to 2025, when the Bologna-born driver was still the second driver on the Mercedes team. This year, too, the four-time world champion has repeatedly expressed his respect for the World Championship leader, with words that have surprised Antonelli on more than one occasion.

“I don’t know exactly why he’s taken such a liking to me, but I’m not complaining. It’s always better to have him on your side,” he said in an interview with topspeedblog.it. “Max is a great guy, and knowing him, he’s very different from how he might appear to outsiders. My goal is to race a 24-hour race with him.”

“He’s one of the best, if not the best on the grid right now: he’s fast, strong, well-rounded, and above all, in difficult situations, he always manages to turn things around. You can never count him out. Even when his weekend seems to be an uphill battle, at some point he comes out on top,” Kimi continued. “Having him in front of you or behind you is terrible in equal measure, because passing him is extremely difficult, while when he’s behind you, sooner or later you know you’ll see him in your mirrors again even if you think you’ve pulled away—it’s like something out of a horror movie,” the Italian driver explained wryly.

During the summer break, Antonelli had participated incognito in a go-kart race in Germany under the pseudonym “Franz Antonelli” —a playful reference to the pseudonym “Franz Hermann” adopted by Verstappen himself—winning by more than a second and a half over the runner-up.