Liuzzi: “Antonelli is ‘wooding’ Russell, but it’s early for the title. And watch out for McLaren”

From one Italian to another Italy is this year rediscovering the pleasure of having its own driver permanently at the top of the Formula 1 World Championship and capable of showing up at every race with a concrete chance of victory. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, not even twenty years old, had a dream first part of the season, taking three victories – consecutive – in the first four GPs and moving up to +20 in the standings compared to his closest pursuer, his teammate George Russell. contacted a former F1 driver of the caliber of Vitantonio Liuzzi, who today remains in the Circus with the delicate role of FIA steward, to also talk about this exploit of Antonelli, who was not expected in these proportions in just his second season in the category. Exclusively on our site, the former Toro Rosso, Force India and HRT representative expressed words of great appreciation for the young Mercedes talent: “Antonelli had a very good first season in Formula 1, but also full of several ups and downs. However, no one has ever doubted his speed, which he is continuing to demonstrate in every race. Then in Miami he adapts particularly well, while in Canada I expect a different balance compared to his teammate. Russell has had two-three races in which he was not perfect.” Not just derbies, watch out for the papayas In Montreal last year the English #63 won, while Antonelli was third and got on the podium for the first time in his F1 career. This weekend Russell will have to try at all costs to beat the Italian to avoid letting him really take off in the standings. In any case, Liuzzi is convinced that it is still too early to concretely think about the world championship head-to-head: “In my opinion there are certainly prospects for a title fight [di Antonelli]. I personally think that the championship is still too long to be able to talk about winning the championship, but [Kimi] he will certainly be one of the suitors until the end. However, Russell is a very experienced driver who is also very fast and this does honor to Antonelli who is proving to often beat him, as I say, and so this is a beautiful thing and we can only be all happy and proud to have an Italian who will compete for the title.” Liuzzi, however, as an attentive ‘internal’ observer of F1, is convinced that the challenge for the championship may not be restricted to just the two standard bearers of the silver arrows: “The improvements we saw in Miami from McLaren make me a little nervous fear because they were improvements a little outside of expectations and therefore they could be a dangerous rival from a world perspective.”

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News , 2026-05-19 18:50:00