Future world champion Kimi Antonelli is self-critical: this is what he still wants to improve

Following his victory in Austin, we can probably describe Kimi Antonelli as the ‘soon-to-be world champion’ with a clear conscience. The Mercedes driver needs just two more points to mathematically secure his first world championship title.

Antonelli narrowly missed out on his first chance to clinch the title in Austin because George Russell (Mercedes) and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) finished too far ahead. In Mexico, the title equation is now much simpler: a 9th-place finish or higher for Antonelli – and he’ll be the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history (more info here).

World Champion in his second Formula 1 season? Wow! The 20-year-old Italian has once again exceeded the high expectations placed on him – after all, Antonelli started out as Hamilton’s successor at Mercedes. Nevertheless, the young racer is refreshingly self-critical.

Future F1 world champion Kimi Antonelli is self-critical

Antonelli: “This season so far has definitely been a positive surprise. Of course, it’s not over yet. There are still a few races to go, in which I simply want to perform well and continue to fight for victories. It would be nice to round off the season on a high note. But yes, when I look back on the season, there are definitely still things I need to work on and improve – be it my mental attitude in certain situations or the way I deal with some scenarios. At the end of the season, I’ll certainly have more time to look back: what went well, what could have been better? But in any case, it’s been a very consistent season so far, and we’ll try to keep it that way right until the end.”

Antonelli immediately cites a few examples: “First of all, the mistake in the third free practice session in Australia. In Japan, I got off to a bad start. Then there was Miami, in the sprint race, where I also threw away points by going off the track. Yes, track limits were the biggest problem for me.” At the Austin Grand Prix (where there are traditionally many track-limit infringements), he only went outside the track limits once.

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Antonelli: “These kinds of situations… and also in some qualifying sessions, I simply didn’t go into the race with the right mindset. So, yes, I just have to make sure I improve in these areas.” However, his mindset can’t have been all that wrong…