Kimi Antonelli’s impressive victory in the Miami Grand Prix, his third win in a row, was “something special”, says 1996 world champion Damon Hill.
“We witnessed this young boy showing us what enormous potential he clearly has, and I’m almost stunned with how he has coped this season,” Hill told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Antonelli Outperforming Russell at Mercedes
Hill added that 19-year-old Antonelli is “showing up” his team-mate George Russell, who started the season as favourite, but finds himself staring at a 20-point deficit in the championship after four races.
Antonelli Joins F1 Elite
Antonelli’s win also marked another statistical milestone for the Italian.
Already the youngest pole winner and the youngest driver to lead championship, he is now only the third driver in history to take his first three pole positions in a row. In that, he is in exalted company – Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher are the others.
He joins Hill and Mika Hakkinen as the first driver to win his first three races consecutively.
All four of those drivers are world champions.
This is only Antonelli’s second season in Formula 1. His first showed occasional promise, but nothing that suggested this was going to come next.
Mercedes have the best car, and the fates turned against Russell in various ways in both the Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix, which he could easily have won.
But that should take nothing away from Antonelli, who has stepped up his level this season in dramatic fashion.
Wolff’s Gamble on Antonelli Pays Off
Antonelli owes his place in F1 to Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, who picked him up as an 11-year-old, wowed by his potential in karting, and has mentored him ever since.
It was Wolff who took the risk of throwing Antonelli in at the deep end after just two years of racing as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton. And Wolff who took the criticism from some quarters that he was asking too much too soon.
Wolff said: “When you look throughout his trajectory, in karting and in the junior formulas, he was just outstanding. And when you think about what we said last year, it’s exactly how he’s performed and how he’s developed now.
“We had great ups and moments of brilliance and then moments where he was allowed to make mistakes.
“We needed to calibrate and continue to mentor him while having pressure on him. But he just takes it so well and he’s able to analyse it but not overthink it. He compartmentalises it. ‘OK, I made a mistake. I put it away.’
“And then, boom, this year the start the season, he’s seen the grands prix (before), he’s worked with the team, he knows the pressure that the media puts upon him.
“It’s easier to calm someone down that is wild. Becaus