Kimi Antonelli is on the cusp of entering Formula One history, requiring only two additional points to become the youngest champion the sport has ever seen and its first Italian title-holder in 73 years. His commanding win at the United States Grand Prix served as his ninth victory of an exceptional season, drawing praise from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who described the performance as the driver’s best to date. With five races remaining, AFP Sport looks at three things we learned from the 20-year-old Italian’s ninth win of an outstanding season.
Reflecting on the 20-year-old’s rapid development, Wolff highlighted the shift from raw talent to the strategic authority of a complete racer. Before the race, Antonelli displayed a surreal, relaxed attitude toward the championship stakes, an approach Wolff believes is innate and beyond the reach of conventional training. The team boss characterized the victory as that of a champion who has not yet officially been crowned. Having seen him deliver staggering wins in Monaco and Monza, called Sunday’s success “the race of a champion who isn’t the champion yet”, team chief Wolff. It is as if his passage from teenager to twenty-something has taken him into a higher level of authoritative and complete racing — adding a strategic dimension to the raw pace that set him apart. Before the race, Antonelli had called on Woff in his office. “He comes in, sits on my chair, feet up, and chats away saying ‘this is so funny – I’m not thinking about the championship at all!’ in a kind of youngish excitement, like it’s surreal.
The contrast between the team leaders was stark.
While Antonelli successfully managed his one-stop strategy, his teammate George Russell struggled, finishing eighth. Antonelli maturing fast and adding strategic authority to his arsenal A brief comparison with the misfortunes and struggles of his teammate and nearest rival George Russell reveals how rapidly Antonelli has developed from a daring precociously talented kid into a maturing competitor. Who began the season as favourite for the drivers’ title and won the opener in Australia, laboured to eighth – the minimum required to keep alive his academic title fight – Antonelli skated home on the same one-stop strategy, while the luckless Russell. Where he was 19th on the grid, because of how he and his crew developed performance through the weekend and executed their bold strategy after seizing pole, antonelli himself recognised this win as better than Monza.
Russell, who opened the season as a title favorite, was hampered by a five-second penalty and admitted he lacked both pace and composure. Wolff noted that while Antonelli’s driving style meshes naturally with the car, Russell has faced significant difficulty adapting to recent technical updates.
Red Bull also endured a difficult outing, struggling with both equipment reliability and internal communication. Max Verstappen, who crossed the line third behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, described the team’s radio issues as a disaster. The Dutchman noted that Red Bull’s pace was merely average, and his choice to open the race on two sets of soft tyres failed to provide the necessary advantage.
Adding to Red Bull’s frustration, French driver Isack Hadjar, who finished sixth, faced technical hurdles including poor radio connectivity and a flawed clutch design. Verstappen joked that they might resort to sign language to communicate more cheaply in the future, citing intense frustration with the current state of operations.
Ferrari left the weekend with a sense of lingering disappointment despite showing strong potential throughout the practice sessions. After leading all three practice rounds, the team failed to capitalize, with Leclerc finishing second and Carlos Sainz in fourth. Team principal Fred Vasseur admitted that failing to convert such pace into a victory is difficult, though he noted that the frustration can sometimes serve as a motivator for future improvements.
Vasseur pointed to the razor-thin margins during qualifying, noting that variables like a sudden gust of wind or a minor slide can negate a perfect performance. Although the team felt they could have secured a better result—potentially even third if not for a late-race Virtual Safety Car affecting Lewis Hamilton—they viewed the weekend as a solid exercise in execution and overall pace. Except for the final lap in Q3 when with the tyres, the window to improve is very narrow… and you can go from a super result to nowhere for a gust of wind or a slide too much, all went well.
