Kimi Antonelli and those things "that need less proving"

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has won the Formula 1 World Championship, but he still hasn’t fully grasped what has happened to him. He is twenty years old, the youngest world champion in the history of Formula 1, and has ended a 73-year wait for Italy, yet he continues to speak like a young man who has only just discovered how wonderful it is to win and who now can’t wait to start all over again. “I’m slowly realising what’s happened,” he said at his first press conference as World Champion in San Marino. “It was such a huge achievement that I need a bit of time to myself. Even now, I still find it hard to believe.” Perhaps because the dream came too quickly. Or perhaps because for Kimi, as for all great champions, the finish line he has crossed immediately becomes a new starting line.

“My hunger is just as strong as before; perhaps it has even grown. Winning is one of the most wonderful feelings you can experience, and once you’ve felt it, you want to relive it again and again. For me, these last few races are already the start of 2027. I want to finish on a high, perhaps secure a few more victories, and then come back even stronger. This must be just the beginning.”

The young driver who has ascended to the throne of Formula 1 has not lost his smile, his spontaneity, or his knack for poking fun at himself, an attribute that appears to be one of his secret weapons. To celebrate the championship, he arrived in front of the entire Mercedes team with his hair dyed in the colours of the Italian flag. “I would have liked to add a bit of blue as well, but they only had one can of proper paint. I thought it might not be the best idea to spray it on my head.” The result was memorable all the same. “Everyone was dressed smartly, looking perfect, and then I turned up. Toto Wolff couldn’t believe his eyes. In the group photo, you can see everyone with normal hair and then there’s this little tricolour dot at the front. In a few years’ time I’ll probably wonder what on earth I was thinking, but at the time it was brilliant.” With one small snag: “I kept losing the colour and the white had turned grey. I looked like a grandad.”

Behind this light-heartedness, however, lies a profound transformation. The Kimi of 2026 is not just a faster driver. Above all, he is a young man who has learnt to live with his fears. “Last year, when I got into the car, I thought too much about the end result and not about how to achieve it. This year I’ve completely changed my mindset. I focused on what I needed to do to achieve the result. It was a massive step forward.” A change born out of the difficulties of 2025, the doubts, the mistakes, and the pressure of joining Mercedes at such a young age. “There were some very dark moments. Overcoming them helped me grow enormously, not just as a driver but above all as a person. I realised I’d be capable of facing other difficult moments.”

The test had already come in Australia, when an incident during the final free practice session reawakened the ghosts of the past, particularly that of the disastrous crash during practice at Monza in 2024. “If it had happened to me last year, I’d probably have carried that mistake with me for much longer. Instead, I managed to put it behind me. It was confirmation that I’d changed.”

Then came China, with my first pole position and first victory. “It was like breaking the ice. From that moment on, I got into the car feeling more relaxed, because I had one less thing to prove.” Monaco, on the other hand, was the technical masterpiece. “The most complete weekend of my career. We weren’t the favourites; on Friday we were struggling, then we turned the car around and managed to win.” But it was at Monza that Antonelli truly realised he could become world champion. “I knew I’d have to serve a penalty for the engine and had already reckoned with losing points. Instead, on the fifteenth lap, I found myself in first place. At that point I told myself: I simply have to win. It’s either win or nothing.” That comeback proved to be the turning point of the championship. “That was the moment I realised I had to go out and win this World Championship.” Not least because Monza meant closing the circle that had been left open by that accident in 2024. A wound transformed into one of the finest victories.

Success, however, has not taken away his anger at defeats. Finishing fifth in Brazil, after leading the race, still sits heavily with him. “I was furious. I didn’t show it because the team had just won the constructors’ title and we had to celebrate. But the next two days weren’t exactly brilliant.” This is the side of the nice lad that’s less obvious: the one who smiles when he’s out of the car, but inside just wants to win. “When I get into the car, I’m a completely different person. There’s only one goal: to be the best.”

Yet Antonelli seems to have found his own unique way of being a champion. Without having to play the villain, without turning every rivalry into a war. “I like to bring positive energy to the team, joke around, have fun. When we need to be serious, we are, but I believe that approaching certain things with a light-hearted attitude helps us work better.” An attitude that comes from home. “My father taught me a great deal about motorsport; my mother, above all, taught me about life. They continue to teach me things even now that I live on my own.” For his part, he has a message for those young people who take to the streets to smash shop windows: “I’d try to pass on to them a little of what I’ve learnt in my life, the values I’ve been taught. To be true to yourself, to respect others, to always keep your feet on the ground, and to try to do good as well – to try to give back a little of what you receive. I’d also try to pass on to them a bit of the way I see life, helping them understand that certain things aren’t right, they lead nowhere – in fact, they only lead to chaos and more chaos – and it’s a shame to see that, especially in cities. Beautiful cities like my Bologna.”

It is precisely these close relationships that have become even more important since the World Championship. In San Marino, his friends had all gathered in a pub to watch the Mexican Grand Prix. Then they wrote him a letter, delivered by Rosa, his guardian angel in a Mercedes. “They told me that no matter how successful I become, to them I’ll always be their Kimi. It was absolutely lovely.” He was also so moved by a banner that appeared at the roundabout near his home that he stopped to take a photo of it.

There is also room in his life for Jannik Sinner, with whom he has yet to organise that famous go-kart challenge. “If he wants, we could even have a day out with the GT3s. We’re friends, we speak often, and I’m really pleased to have his support.”

Track limits. “My dad told me that if I’d done one more, he’d have lowered me by ten centimetres.” A joking threat accompanied by a piece of technical advice that was anything but trivial: don’t fix your eyes on the white line coming out of the bends, but look a few centimetres further in. “At Austin, which is one of the most difficult circuits, I didn’t make a single mistake in qualifying.” As for the starts, the credit for the improvements goes mainly to the work done with the Mercedes engineers on the clutch and the launch control system. Because even a world champion can still improve. And he must.

Next year will not be straightforward. Antonelli is aware of this. “At the start of the season we were dominant, but now Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren have closed the gap considerably. With the budget cap and wind tunnel restrictions, it’s much harder to establish a dominant era like those of the past.” 2027 will also bring significant technical changes, including reduced downforce and a different balance between the electric motor and the internal combustion engine. “It’ll be almost like starting from scratch.”

When asked whom he fears most—Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Russell or Verstappen—Kimi does not resort to diplomacy. “If I have to choose one driver, I’d say Max. I reckon he’ll be the one who’ll cause me the most trouble.” However, he adds that he would like to see a closely fought championship among all the top drivers, including Hamilton, who confided in him on the podium in Mexico that he was hoping for closer battles in 2027.

She won the World Cup. The fear of making a mistake almost defeated her. But her desire to win – that didn’t. “The fire is still there. In fact, perhaps it’s stronger than ever.” Tonight at San Siro she’ll try to pass some of that on to the Azzurri, then she’ll pay a visit to President Mattarella with her family.