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One lap after another, one weekend after another, Andrea Kimi Antonelli is rewriting the history of Italian F1. The pole and the victory obtained in Shanghai had reconnected a thread that had been broken in qualifying in 2009 and in the race in 2006; today the young talent from Bologna did it again on one of the most spectacular tracks of the championship, Suzuka. The pole position achieved today has many special meanings: it is the first ever by an Italian in Japan, the 50th in the history of Italy in F1 and above all it is the first ‘double’ in two consecutive qualifying races for 35 years.
Like Patrese
The last Italian driver capable of starting two consecutive GPs from the first spot on the grid was in fact Riccardo Patrese in 1991 at the wheel of Williams. The driver from Padua even achieved an incredible consecutive trio that year, obtaining the best time on Saturday in Canada, Mexico and France. Unfortunately, in his case, victory only came to him in Mexico City. The hope for Antonelli is that this double on Saturday could only be the appetizer of a back to back on the top step of the podium. Even in this case we would then have to reopen the history books to find out the last time it happened. For the moment, also out of good luck, we are not anticipating anything.
