Kimi Antonelli on Verstappen and Leclerc: “What on earth is going on here?”

As cool as Italian ice cream, Kimi Antonelli clinched his sixth Grand Prix victory in Belgium. In the battle within the team, he has now pulled 50 points clear of his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, with the scores standing at 204:154. In between them lies Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton, who had pushed Russell off the track shortly after the start (and received a penalty for doing so).

For the first time since Monaco, the astonishing Kimi has won again; after that, things went a bit wrong for the teenager: an electrical fault in Spain, third place in Austria, a mechanical failure in England (an aerodynamic part had become lodged in the suspension), and now his sixth victory of the season.

The Bolognese driver knows: “The last few races have shown how quickly things can go wrong, so I don’t want to think about the title at all at the moment. I’d much rather try to secure a top result in every race; the rest will take care of itself.”

Kimi on the frantic opening stages of the Grand Prix: “That was absolutely mad! To be honest, I was so confused by what was happening, because Max just flew past me before Eau Rouge, and then I overtook him again. Then I saw Charles almost right next to me, and I thought to myself: “What on earth is going on here?” I had no idea. In those moments, I was just trying to hold my position, but I was looking in the mirror the whole time because I could see so many cars coming up behind me. It really was a mad start.”

Later on, the virtual safety car (VSC) phase didn’t play in Kimi’s favour, but Antonelli is quite pragmatic about it: “Of course I was a bit annoyed, but you just can’t predict things like that. Sometimes it goes to plan and in your favour, sometimes it doesn’t and it works against you.”

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“At Suzuka I was very lucky with the timing of the safety car, and today luck wasn’t on my side in that situation. But that’s just how it is, and that’s why you try to make the best of it despite everything and always maximise the result.”

Let’s be honest: was Kimi surprised that Charles Leclerc was sticking to him like glue after Antonelli had overtaken him? Kimi replies: “Well, they’d already been quick in practice. Their stints didn’t look bad, so we knew they’d be strong in the race.”

“Today confirmed that they can compete at the front, and they were particularly strong compared to us through turns 12 and 13. We struggled a bit there with a twitchy rear end; the Ferrari was better in that respect, but we were stronger in the slow corners. But we definitely expected them to be quick today.”

And now on to the Hungaroring. What does Kimi expect there? “I reckon the top four teams will be very close together because you won’t have any problems fully charging the battery there. So it’ll be another track like Monaco, where you just focus on driving as fast as possible – without worrying too much about energy management. That’ll be interesting.”

With a 50-point lead over George Russell, can Kimi afford to relax a little? Antonelli replies straight away: “No, because you never know what might happen – the races in Barcelona and Silverstone have shown that clearly enough.”

“I won’t be changing my approach. I take each weekend as it comes and try to get the best possible result every time.”

“But I’m staying on my guard – with these cars, so many unpredictable things can happen. That’s why I don’t want to think too far ahead.”