Kimi Antonelli thanks Jannik Sinner and Roger Federer

As he had already promised long before anyone suspected it, in the days following the British Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli went to visit Jannik Sinner, whom he had already met in Turin while watching the 2025 ATP Finals, and had a chat with the world’s number one tennis player at Wimbledon. Also with them was His Majesty Roger Federer, who was also curious to meet the leader of the Formula 1 world championship standings. At the pre-Spa press conference, Antonelli reflected on the excitement of that moment.

“Being at Wimbledon was wonderful,” he said. “In recent years, I’ve really become passionate about tennis thanks to Jannik Sinner, and experiencing that atmosphere up close was special. Then, having the opportunity to talk with Roger Federer was fantastic: he’s not only been an extraordinary athlete, but he’s also an incredible person. What did we talk about? The pressure of major events and the need to focus on one race at a time while keeping my emotions in check—especially those that can lead you to make mistakes.”

There’s a five-year age difference between Kimi Antonelli and Jannik Sinner: the young racing talent was born in Bologna—the city where he also grew up—on August 25, 2006, while the tennis star was born in San Candido on August 16, 2001, and grew up in nearby Sesto Pusteria.

Both are very close to their families: Sinner was accompanied to Wimbledon by his mother Siglinde (who is increasingly becoming a favorite of the Italian public), as well as by his father Hanspeter and brother Mark, while Antonelli is closely supported by his father Marco and mother Veronica, who helped him turn his passion for motorsports into a career in which he is excelling on the world stage at not even twenty years old.