Antonelli, the prodigies of a phenomenon. Ferrari second, but it’s a half knockout

He is the best of all and the discussion could end here because there is little to add, except my – our – amazement at a phenomenon that is growing at supersonic speed, leaving us astonished at the driving lessons he is giving to his rivals. Winning like that, with that crazy pace, on a pure driving track like Monte Carlo means pushing the comparison with the greatest of Formula 1, from Senna who had 12th like him in Monaco, to Prost, to Schumacher and a few others including Hamilton who is still there, fighting like a lion with the kids, dreaming of his eighth world title. But the present and future of Formula 1 is, precisely, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, capable of showing unexpected qualities at every race. To win on tracks that are perhaps easy like Miami, not impossible like China but also deadly like Suzuka, treacherous like Canada and hysterically challenging like Monte Carlo. Five successes in a row for a nineteen-year-old who has already racked up a series of records and now leads the championship with 66 points over Hamilton, with the concrete possibility of increasing the advantage race after race because Mercedes, it’s true, has a Power Unit that is surprisingly superior to the others, but it also has a complex chassis-aerodynamics that is frightening and demonstrated it precisely in the Principality, when Antonelli flew in front without obstacles and the others struggled with tire degradation. We are only at the sixth of 22 races but beating Mercedes already seems like an impossible task for humans, because Antonelli declared that he was going for a walk, before the red flag came out which cruelly attempted to stop his gallop. Then the restart, another sprint, three fast laps out of six real races, the checkered flag, the tricolor on his shoulders while Prince Albert rewards him. Everything so beautiful it seems unreal. And all so concrete that it goes down in history. Faced with this superiority, George Russell, with the same car, was knocked out, between the awkwardness in the early stages fighting with Hadjar, the penalties, the lapping (!) after 55 laps and a driving that was decidedly not up to par, above all for psychological reasons. Antonelli and Mercedes knocked out every opponent, as we saw. And the first defeat is Ferrari, which also in light of what the drivers and team managers had said, or let appear, should have won here, or rather dominated, due to the characteristics of an engine tailor-made for tracks like this. Instead, Ferrari took home a second place, with Hamilton, truly colorless if we consider that before the Safety Car neutralizations Lewis was struggling with a margin of half a minute and Leclerc was just a little further back. And there were still 20 laps to go. Mercedes’ superiority shattered the Cavallino’s ambitions, with a pace that exposed the fragilities of the SF26: the inability to obtain the margin to recover from ongoing developments, an inefficiency in improving performance on the track from Friday to Sunday, the lack of aerodynamic load denounced by Hamilton, the brake deficiencies indicated by Charles Leclerc as the reason for the accident, provided that they do not depend on software choices made by the team. And then there are the horses that are missing, that is, a power not up to Mercedes’ level. A long list of things to fix to win, even if today Ferrari is the best car in the world championship, after Mercedes, given that Red Bull even leaves Verstappen stationary on the starting grid while McLaren is struggling between Norris’ retirement and Piastri’s slowness obviously due to the car. Time to drink an espresso and F1 moves from Monaco to Barcelona where it will race next Sunday. Another track, other characteristics, different types of stress for cars and power units. With Antonelli instead hoping for a freezing of values. And scenarios. Because at a certain point it becomes necessary to take the thought further… Click here to add Formula Passion as a favorite source on Google Discover: you will find our contents more easily!

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News , 2026-06-08 03:38:00