Formula 1 World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli: “It does feel a bit strange”

For Kimi Antonelli, the 13th race weekend of the year is a very special occasion. The Formula 1 World Championship leader is in for a special welcome at Monza, as he’ll be racing in front of his home crowd. This made it all the more frustrating for the young Mercedes driver that his previous Formula 1 outings at the Royal Park hadn’t gone to plan.

In 2024, he took part in his first free practice session at the Italian circuit. However, his stint in George Russell’s car proved to be incredibly brief. Within the first few minutes, the curly-haired driver spun off at the Parabolica and ended up in the barriers. A year later, he returned to Monza as a regular driver, but could not manage better than ninth place in the race. Team principal Toto Wolff had clear words for the slump in form the then teenager was going through.

This year, he is competing on the high-speed circuit as the championship leader. However, he heads into the 13th Grand Prix of the season with a disadvantage, as he has had a new power unit fitted to his car for the Italian Grand Prix, which exceeds the permitted allocation. This means he will have to tackle the Italian Grand Prix from far down the starting grid. This also affected his practice programme on Friday, as it meant there was no need to focus on chasing fast lap times in qualifying.

Kimi Antonelli praises Ferrari’s progress

After the second practice session, in which he finished third fastest on the day, Antonelli said: “Of course, it’s overwhelming to be here and the support from the fans is incredible. Things went a bit differently today than usual, as we focused much more on the long runs. To be honest, it feels a bit strange, but overall it was a good day and we’ve now gathered a lot of data for the coming days.”

The 20-year-old had already announced that he would provide a slipstream for his team-mate George Russell in qualifying to help him in the hunt for pole position. Antonelli also has high hopes for the Ferrari team, as he explained: “Ferrari have definitely taken a step forward with the new engine. They’re now on a par with us in terms of speed, and we know how good they are through the corners. I’m therefore expecting a close battle for pole.”

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