Phenomenon on karts
Son of Marco Antonelli, a good driver in GT and super touring before becoming team principal of the Antonelli Motorsport team, Kimi started with Dino Chiesa of Kart Republic, the same one with whom Hamilton and Rosberg took their first steps in racing. It grows to the sound of triumphs, so much so that since he was a child he has been considered one of the future crack of world motoring: in 2018 he won the WSK Champions Cup 60 Mini title, then becoming WSK Euro Series champion in the OK Junior class the following season. The turning point is inexorable: he is reported to the Mercedes talent scouts by Giancarlo Minardi and his son Giovanni, then he wins the European WSK in the OK category in 2020 and the CIK-Fia championship in 2021. And after having won the impossible on karts, it’s not as if his debut in single-seaters is any less…
You start in a single seater
In 2022, in his first full year among the “big boys”, he dominates with style in Formula 4: he races in the Italian series, winning the title thanks to 13 pole positions and 14 victories out of 20 races, but he also triumphs in the German edition, scoring 9 successes in 15 events. That is, running three races less than all the opponents. A habit on the top step of the podium that Kimi will also maintain in 2023 in Formula Regional, where he also displays a certain tactical intelligencein addition to the usual very heavy right foot. In fact, he shows himself capable of being satisfied with the podium or good points placings, and in the end the title arrives also thanks to the consistency of performance and the few missteps (only two races out of 20 without points).
But the true masterpiece of grit and talent is in the rain of Zandvoorton the decisive day for winning the championship. It is there that Antonelli, dancing in the wet, climbs from eighth to first position in just three laps, leading all his rivals to school and thus convincing Wolff to forge ahead in the jump to Formula 2 without passing through the intermediate step of F3.
The 2024 Formula 2 season
It is often said that the greatest champions are those capable of making the difference in the wet, and Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton and Verstappen are no exception. It must therefore not have been a coincidence Antonelli’s first victory among the cadets came in the rainat Silverstone: taking advantage of the grid reversal of the Sprint Race, but also authoritatively managing several restarts after the Safety Car. Two weeks later there was the first real success, in the “long race” in Budapest.
In truth, there is no hiding the fact that 2024 has been more complicated than expected. Partly due to the unexpected difficulties of the Prema team with the new generation car, partly because in such a balanced championship, in the end the less inexperienced drivers emerged with more determination. It will also be the first year in single-seaters in which Antonelli will probably not win the titletherefore deviating from the trajectory of debut victories among the cadets that marked the path to F1 for Hulkenberg, Rosberg and Hamilton, and more recently also for Leclerc, Russell and Piastri.
The debut in Formula 1
To replace the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, Toto Wolff has bet big on Antonelliputting him in the starting car in 2025 at 18 years, 6 months and six days, completing a journey that began with his inclusion in the Academy already in 2019.
It’s not there Mercedes steamroller of the past and therefore Antonelli was able to learn and make some mistakes without the pressure of having to win the world championship. The first points arrived already on his debut in Australia with fourth place, the first podium after ten races, at the Canadian GP, third.
There is room for some early records: the youngest driver to lead a GP, the youngest to set a fastest lap in a race.
This 2026 it begins for Antonelli with the best possible news: Mercedes is the car to beat. AND the young Italian phenomenon immediately seizes the opportunity: at the Chinese Grand Prix he takes pole position and is the youngest ever, at 19 years, 6 months and 17 days.
One day later the well-deserved first victory in Formula 1, at 19 years, 6 months and 18 days. Only Max Verstappen is younger than him. The last Italian driver to win was Gian Carlo Fisichella on Renault at the 2006 Malaysian GP, in 4 days it would have been 20 years without success for our nation.
