Max Verstappen: No comeback; Kimi Antonelli ‘just delivers’

With an 81-point lead over his team-mate George Russell and a 101-point gap to Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), something truly extraordinary would have to happen for Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli not to become Formula 1 World Champion this year. More than half the season is over and the young Italian has so far shown no signs whatsoever as to why he shouldn’t continue to perform at the top of his game right through to the season finale.

An Antonelli title would be a record

So, will the new Formula 1 World Champion be Kimi Antonelli? It would be a record. If he were to clinch the title at the season finale on St Nicholas’ Day, Antonelli would be 20 years and 103 days old. It is more than likely that he will secure the title even earlier. Whenever it happens, it would be a record either way: the current youngest world champion is Sebastian Vettel, at 23 years and 134 days. So Antonelli would even have three years left to attempt a second record.

Another figure from the history books of Formula 1 is full of praise for Antonelli: Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen is the youngest driver ever to start an F1 race (17 years and 166 days – a record that will stand for ages, as the minimum age for F1 is now 18). And he is the youngest Grand Prix winner. At 18 years and 228 days, Verstappen won in Barcelona in 2016. Kimi Antonelli was 19 years and 202 days old when he claimed his first victory in Shanghai this year.

Verstappen won’t be making a comeback in this year’s World Championship

As is well known, Max Verstappen was F1 World Champion four times between 2021 and 2024, so he knows how it’s done. He can therefore also say that he won’t be standing in Kimi Antonelli’s way in 2026. Verstappen: “A comeback is definitely not on the cards for me.” Last year, he was still around 100 points behind after the summer break and then launched a comeback in the World Championship. He ultimately missed out on the title by two points.

And on Antonelli, Verstappen says: “Kimi just needs to carry on as he has been. It’s fantastic; things are going really well. He shouldn’t worry too much about it – which, in my opinion, he isn’t anyway. He’s simply delivering, he’s confident and he’s gaining more and more experience. He’s still young, still right at the start of his career, but he’s on a brilliant run and everything’s just clicking. So he shouldn’t overcomplicate things unnecessarily. He doesn’t do that either. He’s got lots of good people around him who know what he needs. So everything’s going well.”

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