Nico Rosberg Identifies the Last Major Obstacle for Kimi Antonelli

Thanks to his victories at Monza and Madrid, Andrea Kimi Antonelli has solidified his lead in the Formula 1 drivers’ standings and is one step closer to his dream of winning the World Championship at age 20. Currently, the driver from Bologna holds an 81-point lead over George Russell, with nine races remaining until the end of the season. Behind the British driver are Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, trailing by more than 100 points.

Speaking to Sky, Nico Rosberg issued a warning to Antonelli: “I know all too well how my mind started playing tricks on me when I was the clear favorite. When you realize you’re number one, you think: ‘I’d better not mess this up; I’d better not make any stupid, unnecessary mistakes because the World Championship is right there, within reach.’ And as soon as those thoughts cross your mind, you start to get scared.”

“You’re afraid of messing things up; it’s damn hard not to make mistakes, to be up there, to qualify consistently, to put in good laps, and not to crash into the wall. It’s easy to make a mistake because it’s damn hard. Then your mind starts to crack, and that prevents you from focusing on driving well.”

Rosberg remembers his final races of 2016 well, before his world championship triumph: “I’d lost it; I didn’t have the slightest chance of securing a pole position or winning another race in those last four, because my mental ability to drive well had dropped by 30%. That’s the most important thing to keep an eye on. Now it’s really him against himself, so we’ll see how it goes, but for now he’s doing incredibly well.”