Patrese: Kimi Antonelli is in the same league as Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton and Verstappen

Even long-serving Formula 1 driver Riccardo Patrese can scarcely believe his eyes at what he is witnessing in the 2026 Grand Prix season – his Italian compatriot Kimi Antonelli (19) has now won his sixth race of the season at Spa-Francorchamps. He leads the Drivers’ Championship by 45 points and a whopping 50 points ahead of his Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

Patrese, who finished runner-up in the World Championship in 1992 with Williams, told the New Betting Sites website: “I don’t think Kimi is the champion just yet. After all, we’ve seen that reliability can make all the difference in the blink of an eye – even for Kimi.”

Riccardo Patrese

Foto: XPB

PATRESE

“But Kimi is the favourite; he’s in a very strong position after his sixth win, he’s in fantastic spirits, and the car is, when it’s working, incredibly competitive. So, for me, he’s the undisputed favourite, but at this stage, with eleven races still to go, his lead isn’t big enough for him to sit back and relax.”

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“It’ll be interesting to see what happens between him and Russell in the future. Kimi is in a clearly better position than George Russell. Kimi has often proved that he can be more competitive than Russell. For me, there’s only one question mark at Mercedes at the moment: reliability.”

“But Kimi is getting stronger all the time; he makes hardly any mistakes, he’s very fast and his car is the best on the grid. I’m not surprised by Antonelli’s strong performances. Before the season started, I said that with a year’s experience under his belt, Kimi could go a long way.”

“I expected that, because he simply has something about him that sets him apart from a solid champion. I can’t say yet that he’ll be as outstanding as Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton and Verstappen, because they’ve won so many titles. But he’s definitely cut from the same cloth. He belongs in that league.”

“Kimi Antonelli is a special talent and will be a special champion. You also need the luck of a great champion to be in the right place at the right time, and he certainly had that this season.”