Kimi Antonelli Blows a Ferrari Legend Away: “Impressive”

When it comes to Kimi Antonelli, Jacky Ickx doesn’t hide his enthusiasm. The former Belgian driver, a six-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a star of a legendary era in Formula 1, speaks with great admiration for the young Italian talent in *La Gazzetta dello Sport*: “He’s such a polite, cheerful young man, and his talent is impressive. We need more young drivers like him in Formula 1.”

Ickx knows the Formula 1 circuit like few others, having experienced it first as a driver and then as an ambassador, and on the eve of the Belgian Grand Prix, he also spoke about his beloved Spa-Francorchamps. “The track is simply magical. It was in the 1970s, when I was racing, and it still is today,” he says. “Every corner is unique, and the atmosphere is one-of-a-kind: the Ardennes, the often rainy weather, the crowd. These are elements you won’t find anywhere else.”

The former Ferrari driver then commented on the decision to include Spa in a rotating calendar, with the circuit set to miss some editions of the World Championship: “Liberty Media is doing an extraordinary job of growing Formula 1, as evidenced by the ever-growing crowds and the championship’s global expansion. However, a track like Spa deserves to be on the calendar every year, not least because organizing a Grand Prix every other season makes financial management more complicated.”

Looking ahead to this weekend’s race, Ickx doesn’t see a clear favorite: “The best thing about this season is that it’s really hard to predict who will win. Mercedes is very strong, Ferrari is surprising everyone, and I’m convinced that Verstappen will also manage to secure more victories before the end of the year. But what impresses me most is what your young champion, Kimi Antonelli, is doing.”