"Ferrari Is My Heart" — But Italy Is Falling for Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli Anyway

MONZA — Kimi Antonelli turns up at the Temple of Speed this weekend chasing a Formula 1 world championship, leading the standings by 59 points after six victories in his second season. There is only one complication, and it is the size of a religion in Italy: he drives a silver Mercedes, not a red Ferrari.

In the Monza paddock on Friday, BBC Sport found a fanbase genuinely of two minds. "Ferrari is my heart," said Thomas, Monza born and bred. "It's a religion," added Emanuele, attending with his daughter Matilde. "In Italy, we do support other teams and other sports, but there is only one Ferrari."

That devotion is not hyperbole. Ferrari is the only team to have competed in every season since the world championship began in 1950, and Italians joke that the identity of the Scuderia's team principal matters as much as the identity of the Pope. When a Ferrari driver wins the title, the team's spiritual home of Maranello erupts. "It's like the second coming effectively; everyone's in the streets singing, dancing, church bells are ringing. It's a party in the streets," said Adrian Hussain, a member of the Scuderia Ferrari Club Silverstone.

Those bells last rang for a Ferrari champion in 2007, when Finland's Kimi Raikkonen took his only title by a single point. And Italy has not produced a world champion driver of its own since Alberto Ascari claimed back-to-back crowns with Ferrari in 1952 and 1953.

Antonelli is 'disrupting the traditional rules of fandom'

Antonelli's rise has cracked that old certainty open. "Antonelli is disrupting the traditional rules of fandom in Italy," Giulia Toninelli, a journalist for La Gazzetta dello Sport, told BBC Sport. Toninelli credits his "strong personality" with winning over the Italian public, especially the younger fanbase, adding: "And the fact that he is racing for Mercedes matters very little to them."

In the Monza fanzone, one household is divided. Alessandro is decked out in Ferrari red; his girlfriend Emma wears Mercedes silver. "Of course, I am a little bit of a Ferrarista because I'm Italian. But honestly, I love Kimi, I support him," Emma said. If Antonelli lifts the title — with the season finale possibly at Imola, about 25 miles from where he grew up in Bologna — the couple agree it would mean "Italy is back on top".

The ex-racers who front the Italian podcast Chiacchiere da Box (Paddock Chatter), five-time MotoGP race winner Marco Melandri and 2012 GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi, see it the same way from the commentary box. "I think Kimi is living the dream, even of the Italian fans," said Melandri. "But in Italy, a lot of people are very close to Ferrari, they are pushing for Ferrari. So sometimes they are fighting themselves to understand, to choose who is their favourite driver. But I think Kimi is doing something amazing."

Valsecchi was more emphatic still. "We are loving it," he said. "It's a big surprise for everyone, knowing that an Italian driver, so young, is leading the championship, is driving so well, and is mentally so strong. So, at the moment, everything is perfect for us."

A Mercedes family, not a Ferrari furnace

Antonelli has been a Mercedes protege since he was 11. After a single season in Formula 2, team principal Toto Wolff fast-tracked him into the seat vacated by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who left for Ferrari in 2025. His debut campaign was a steep learning curve — four retirements and only three points across a bruising European leg — before he finished seventh in the championship.

Mercedes have shielded him through every mishap, including when an 18-year-old Antonelli crashed in his very first practice session at Monza, Wolff coming on the radio with five soothing words: "All good, Kimi. All good."

Toninelli believes that protection is precisely what he needs. "I think Kimi is in the right place at the moment," she said. "Mercedes is a family he has known for a long time, one that has nurtured him as a driver and given him a level of protection that would be impossible for him to have at Ferrari right now."

Valsecchi agrees that distance from Italy's sometimes "extreme" following works in his favour. "Sometimes in Italy, we lack a bit of patience," he said. "We just push for you when you are strong and then underline with red pen every time as soon as you make little mistakes. For this reason, as a rookie, it is better to be away and to be on another side, and then come to Ferrari only when you are a big man with already a championship and a complete driver."

Ferrari first — but an Italian champion would still be celebrated

Not everyone is ready to switch allegiance. Asked about an Antonelli title, Daniele, at Monza with his sons Tommaso and Demis, said he would feel "so-so". "We support Hamilton and Leclerc — we support Ferrari," he said emphatically, though Demis, while still loyal to the Scuderia, whispered that the Mercedes driver is "really good". Thomas put it bluntly: "I'm happy for Kimi, of course. But I'm not supporting him like Ferrari, because Ferrari is up there."

Even inside the Ferrari faithful, the goodwill is real. "It would be very nice to have an Italian driver in Italian colours winning races and championships," said Hussain. "Everybody within the club, certainly in our group chats, everyone's supportive of Kimi winning races. There's no animosity towards him."

Melandri, too, believes an Antonelli-Ferrari union could happen somewhere down the line. For now, though, the championship arithmetic is what matters. Antonelli's season has already rewritten the record books: youngest driver to take pole position, converted into his first win in China in March, and youngest winner of the Monaco Grand Prix. An engine-related retirement in Barcelona and a 15th place at Silverstone have been his only real blips, and he will start Sunday's Italian Grand Prix from the back after a grid penalty for taking a new power unit.

Victory in Belgium plus podiums in Hungary and Zandvoort have built his 59-point cushion over Mercedes team-mate George Russell and Hamilton, who are level on 183 points. Should he close out the title, Antonelli would beat Sebastian Vettel — 23 years and 134 days old when he won his first crown in 2010 — as the youngest champion in F1 history, by three years.

In Monza, the noise will be red. The celebrations, if they come, may look rather more silver.