Riccardo Patrese on Lewis Hamilton: “I couldn’t have foreseen that”

With Kimi Antonelli, Italy can finally celebrate a home-grown Formula 1 world champion once again. The young Mercedes star secured the title in Mexico, with four rounds of the world championship still to go before the end of the season. The 20-year-old has thus become the youngest champion in the history of the premier class. The curly-haired driver’s talent was evident from an early age.

This is also confirmed by Riccardo Patrese, who got to know the new world champion at an early stage. Speaking to the online betting provider ‘Jackpot City Casino’, the six-time Grand Prix winner said: ‘I’ve been close to Kimi since he was twelve, so I could recognise his talent.’

The Italian’s experience with Lewis Hamilton was quite different: “No, when Hamilton joined us, I wouldn’t have thought he could be as good as he turned out to be. But of course he was already strong in his first year; he almost became world champion. Then he went on to win in the following years.”

“As Fernando Alonso’s team-mate, he immediately proved to be very competitive,” recalls Patrese. “But I couldn’t have foreseen that he would go on to celebrate seven world championship titles and 106 Grand Prix victories. “I didn’t know Lewis, and I’d never even met him in person back then, so I had no way of knowing just how great his talent was.”

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