Lando Norris on Kimi Antonelli: “He’s frighteningly good”

Can anyone still prevent World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli from winning his first World Championship title at the age of just 20? Following his victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, the Italian Mercedes driver leads by 81 points ahead of his team-mate George Russell and 101 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), who is third in the championship. Depending on how optimistic or pessimistic one is about the situation in the Middle East, one can currently expect there to be nine (officially) or eight (presumably more realistic) Grands Prix and one Sprint race. That means a maximum of 208 or 233 points are still up for grabs. To put that into perspective: Antonelli already has 292 points.

Is it already time to offer cautious congratulations? What advice does the current Formula 1 world champion – namely the 2025 champion, Lando Norris – have for Antonelli? And does the McLaren driver still harbour any hopes of a comeback? Norris, the current world champion, and Antonelli, who could well be the next, stood together on the podium in Madrid and then sat together at the subsequent press conference.

Norris: That’s what makes Antonelli so strong

Lando Norris acknowledged without a hint of envy: “He’s leading by such a wide margin because he’s doing an incredible job. He’s beating a much more experienced team-mate – and a pretty good one at that – so I wouldn’t want to give him any advice, because he’s frighteningly good – and he’s only 20 years old. Quite phenomenal.” If Antonelli were to actually become World Champion in 2026, he would be the youngest F1 World Champion of all time, beating Sebastian Vettel’s record.

Norris: “I think it’s cool to see someone so young putting in such an incredible performance and most likely going to win the championship. He’s been impressive since the first race this year. Very few mistakes. He doesn’t drive as if this were his second year in Formula 1. There will be many, many more years in which we’ll be battling it out, and I’m looking forward to more – hopefully later this year – and I’m looking forward to us all racing even more in the future.”

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