Antonelli steps up his level in dramatic fashion

Kimi Antonelli's first season in F1 showed occasional promise, but nothing that suggested this was going to come next, writes Andrew Benson. By Andrew Benson F1 Correspondent in Miami Kimi Antonelli's impressive victory in the Miami Grand Prix, his third win in a row, was "something special", says 1996 world champion Damon Hill. On top of that, Hill added, 19-year-old Antonelli is "showing up" his team-mate George Russell, who started the season as favourite, but finds himself staring at a 20-point deficit in the championship after four races. Already the youngest pole winner and the youngest driver to lead championship, he is now only the third driver in history to take his first three pole positions in a row. And he joins Hill and Mika Hakkinen as the first driver to win his first three races consecutively.

This is only Antonelli's second season in Formula 1. His first showed occasional promise, but nothing that suggested this was going to come next. But that should take nothing away from Antonelli, who has stepped up his level this season in dramatic fashion. Antonelli owes his place in F1 to Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, who picked him up as an 11-year-old, wowed by his potential in karting, and has mentored him ever since. "We needed to calibrate and continue to mentor him while having pressure on him.

I put it away.' "And then, boom, this year the start the season, he's seen the grands prix (before), he's worked with the team, he knows the pressure that the media puts upon him. Last year, he was comfortably the better driver of the two; only rarely did Antonelli get the better of him. The Briton, 28, lived up to that when he won the first race of the season in Australia from pole position, but since then things have gone against him. A technical problem almost certainly robbed him of pole in China and handed it to Antonelli, who converted it into a maiden win. Antonelli put it on pole.

Antonelli made a sixth bad start in a row and lost ground. But McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the team still had the margin to stay ahead of Antonelli when they did stop three laps after him, but that a series of events conspired against them. First, there was the time gained by what Stella called a "huge" first lap out of the pits by Antonelli after his stop. The Mercedes quickly swept past, and Antonelli held Norris off for the rest of the race. "Clearly he's in a very good place at the moment and momentum is with him," Russell said.

"The risk is that he's being carried away too quickly," Wolff said. "And we know that the parents are going to keep him grounded. Right, Marco?" Antonelli Sr responded: "Right." Wolff continued: "The easier bit is making sure that he keeps both feet on the ground here in the team. "But looking a Kimi Antonelli's first season in F1 showed occasional promise, but nothing that suggested this was going to come next, writes Andrew Benson. Antonelli steps up his level in dramatic fashion