Hans-Joachim Stuck on F1 World Champion Kimi Antonelli: “A cool bloke!”

Formula 1 made history at the Mexican Grand Prix. The Italian Kimi Antonelli has become the youngest driver in the series’ history to be crowned world champion. The young man from Bologna crossed the line in third place on a bone-dry track, thereby securing the title. At just 20 years of age, he is the youngest F1 world champion of all time. On the programme ‘Sport und Talk aus dem Hangar-7’ on ServusTV, Mathias Lauda, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Gerhard Kuntschik analysed the Mercedes youngster’s successful run.

Stuck on F1 World Champion Antonelli

Former F1 driver Stuck (75 years old, 74 GPs) is impressed by the Mercedes wonder kid: “99 per cent are too slow – 101 is too fast. Kimi manages to stay focused at an incredibly high level for an incredibly long time. He’s also well-mannered, just like us.”

Commenting on the Italian Grand Prix, where Antonelli drove from the back of the field (following an engine penalty) to victory, the Bavarian says: “Monza was brilliant; it’s a track where you can overtake well – but you’ve got to drive like that first. A home Grand Prix is obviously brilliant if you can pull it off like that.”

Antonelli? A cool bloke!

Stuck: “It’s important that he has a boss like Toto Wolff to guide him. It’s also important to have the right support.” The new world champion’s openness was also a topic of discussion in Hangar-7. Stuck emphasises this with a laugh: “That’s not something you see every day either. It’s a gift he’s inherited from his parents – and it’ll stay that way. He’s just a cool bloke!”

Stuck describes the situation of Antonelli’s team-mate George Russell, who went into the season as the favourite but officially lost his title chances in Mexico, as follows: “I’ve been through that too, when I was doing well and a young driver joined the team. Then you start to feel the pressure. Back then, Frank Biela joined me at Audi. As an experienced driver, you have to put up with that.”

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Russell congratulated Antonelli, but then quickly left the track in Mexico and skipped the mandatory media sessions. Stuck: “The fact that he suddenly bolted from the press conference isn’t on either. Russell is going to have a difficult winter – we’ll see how he gets through it.”

The fact is: next year could be exciting – Stuck expects battles between Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen in particular: “You can see what a fighter Max is. I’m looking forward to next year, when the car might be even a bit better. There’ll be some exciting battles then.”

On the subject of Ferrari, which experienced yet another internal twist in Mexico, Stuck says: “Ferrari is a special team that you always keep an eye on. It’s Italy’s flagship team.” Reflecting on the team’s internal management, Stuck muses: “It’s not clear whether Vasseur is necessarily the right man for Ferrari.”