Sport
Formula 1 •
In the tears of Andrea Kimi Antonelli
The Italian driver has won the Formula 1 World Championship. His tears were proof that joy is capable of making even a man who has no qualms about racing at over three hundred kilometres per hour in a single-seater feel very human indeed
Claudio Lolli sang in ‘Villeneuve’ that ‘drivers, for example / Know they are half man and half machine / and for this reason they are certainly more human than others / but certainly, certainly much more machine’. Times have changed since Gilles Villeneuve raced; everything has changed, except for one thing: there are only men and only machines, yet drivers cannot be either. Whether single-seaters are still an extension of the driver, or whether the driver has become an extension of the car, is a matter of debate. The bond, however, is very real.
At the end of the Mexican Grand Prix, Andrea Kimi Antonelli made it clear to us that drivers are no longer superhuman – despite driving extremely fast cars amongst other extremely fast cars – but are simply human beings. Capable of being moved. His eyes began to well up with joy during the final lap, and he allowed himself to shed tears and sob after crossing the finish line. Tears of satisfaction and disbelief. The same feeling that stayed with him as he climbed onto the podium, looking – as world champion – at those standing beside him: two multiple world champions, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. “An incredible season – just as incredible as sharing this podium with Hamilton and Verstappen.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s hero is Ayrton Senna, but the Italian driver never saw Senna race; he did not experience the Brazilian’s years behind the wheel, but only knew of his posthumous legend. He witnessed the victories of the Dutchman and the Englishman. To find himself on a podium alongside them – the last great Formula 1 champions – celebrating a World Championship that no one had ever won before in 20 years and 68 days, must have been truly ‘incredible’.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the youngest driver ever to win a Formula 1 World Championship; on a night in early November, he made it abundantly clear to a global audience that joy can be overwhelming, and that it is capable of making even a man who has no qualms about racing at over three hundred kilometres per hour in a car that represents the very pinnacle of global motor racing technology seem utterly human.
