At last, the dilemma has arrived: should I side with Antonelli or with Ferrari?

For the first time, the dilemma has arisen: to side with Kimi or with Ferrari? The setting was the ‘University of Formula 1’, the most beautiful circuit of them all. Spa-Francorchamps will be dropped from next year’s calendar to make way for Barcelona. And if there was ever a way to take what will hopefully be a brief break, Spa has chosen the best one. The battle between the youngster from Bologna and the Modena-based team has been discussed time and again but, due to various twists and turns, has never really materialised as a head-to-head contest. At Silverstone, fifteen days ago, it seemed to be the perfect setting. But the duel never materialised due to a reliability issue with Kimi’s Mercedes. It was said at the time that Leclerc would have found it very difficult to win, given that Antonelli seemed to have the edge.

The great unseen director orchestrating this Formula 1 World Championship has, however, decided that the Ok Corral could indeed be witnessed in the Ardennes. A ‘virtual safety car’ has, in fact, joined forces with the young prince of Monaco, placing the two in the same scenario as at Silverstone. But this time, the ending was different. After all, Gian Maria Volontè put it quite unequivocally – a line later repeated by Clint Eastwood – in Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars”. Namely: ‘When a man with a pistol meets a man with a rifle, the one with the pistol…’ and so on. Kimi Antonelli was wielding the rifle, whilst Charles Leclerc had the pistol in his hand. And yet the duel wasn’t quite so one-sided. So one wonders whether those laps of fierce but always fair and clean competition – in which Kimi first caught Charles’s slipstream, then overtook him on the classic Kemmel straight, and finally kept him behind without ever really pulling away – have truly made a mark. The dividing line between those who, in any case, have always supported – and always will support – a red car, regardless of who is driving it, and those who, out of patriotism, are backing the young Andrea Kimi, even though he is driving an Anglo-German car.

Perhaps we are also witnessing a generational divide amongst fans. Formula 1 is vastly expanding its fan base. Those who have been to Spa in person speak of endless queues, brand-new grandstands and an impressive number of young people who are developing a passion for the sport. Thinking in terms of old paradigms – namely that Ferrari always finishes ahead of everyone else – has perhaps become a thing of the past.

The credit, apart from the car’s racing prowess – which Mercedes has restored after a few lean years – must go to this curly-haired lad from Emilia. From that land of engines and tenacity, he has inherited energy and a smile, talent and the ability to navigate the world. Six wins out of ten for him; fate, ever the gentleman, has restored his points lead over Russell by handing the Brit a zero-point finish following a collision with Hamilton at the start. In the races at Barcelona and Silverstone – the ones won by Ferrari with Hamilton and Leclerc – the youngster scored zero points. In between, there was a third-place finish in Austria. Now his lead over Hamilton and Russell stands at 45 and 50 points respectively. There will be more ‘zeroes’; it’s hard to imagine Antonelli overthinking things or speculating on this massive lead.

Furthermore, Formula 1 finds itself having to reconsider its calendar once again, given that the last two scheduled races, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, are by no means certain to go ahead. And the two cancelled rounds, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, do not currently appear to be recoverable. Consequently, in the worst-case scenario (which is to be hoped we do not see, primarily because it would mean the conflict has completely spiralled out of control), the World Championship could be decided on the basis of 20 races rather than 24. Action resumes straight away with the classic late-July round in the sweltering heat of Budapest. There, the predictions suggest Ferrari will be the favourites. But those same predictions had the Scuderia struggling at the ‘double S’ circuits, Silverstone and Spa, yet they came away with a win and a second place. So, it is best to wait for the verdict on the track without consulting the tarot cards, which nobody seems able to read correctly these days.