Kimi Antonelli poised to be crowned F1's youngest world champion at Austin

From Bologna boy to the brink of glory

Kimi Antonelli may be world champion-elect, but it is sometimes hard to equate the young man who has driven with such exceptional skill and no little verve to touching distance of an historic first Formula One title with the smiling, wide-eyed kid with tousled hair who still almost looks out of place in the F1 paddock. Whether the Italian seals his place as F1's youngest world champion, at 20 years old, at this Sunday's US Grand Prix in Austin, or the next round in Mexico, or even beyond that, is moot – that he will do so is all but assured. For all that he is still in only his second season in the sport, a more rounded, well-liked champion than the Mercedes driver would be hard to find.

Championship on the line in Texas

Antonelli arrives in Austin with a commanding advantage. Reports published on 23 October noted that the Italian has won eight of 17 races so far this season and leads George Russell by 102 points and Lewis Hamilton by 111. If he leaves Austin 125 points clear of any other driver, he will be crowned champion – and at 20 he would break Sebastian Vettel's 2010 record as the youngest driver to win a maiden F1 title.

"It would be a dream," Antonelli said of claiming the crown in Texas. "Something I've dreamt of since I was little. Already to find myself in such a position is incredible. But at the same time, I need to keep going, keep pushing and it's not over yet." He added that his mindset remained unchanged: "Just always the same mindset as I had all year, one race at a time."

A 'different kid' from the start

Engage with Antonelli and it is almost impossible not to still see the three-year-old child who insisted on taking to his father Marco's knee to try out the racing simulator the former driver had brought home. Marco would control the pedals and his son the wheel with an irrepressible enthusiasm that could barely be contained – and is still there in every dart, feint and incisive pass he makes today.

Pictures from his childhood in Bologna, a couple of hours' drive from where his father runs a racing team in San Marino, show that whenever Antonelli has a wheel in his hands there is a smile on his face and his eyes alight. From going karting at the age of five, a meteoric rise followed: taken on as a Mercedes junior driver aged 12, then making his debut for the team in 2025 after a whirlwind three years moving from F4 to Formula Regional and then F2.

The Hamilton-sized shoes

The faith Mercedes placed in him, not least in stepping into the shoes of the departing seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, was huge. Yet team principal Toto Wolff had no doubts as to his talent and his character.

"In the past, there was the opinion in F1 that in order to be winning, you need to be an asshole, you need to be ruthless and opportunistic," Wolff observed this season as Antonelli made a stunning start with five wins on the trot. "I don't think that Kimi is that. It's just down to driving faster than the others, and being a nice person also."

Gwen Lagrue, the talent scout who led Mercedes' junior driver programme, remembers more than just his remarkable talent from their early encounters. "With Kimi, I saw almost from day one that I was dealing with a different kid," Lagrue said. "First, what impressed me, well, amazed me, was his natural presence. He was already having such an impact on everyone in the paddock, you noticed this kid has something different than the others. Everyone liked Kimi, everyone was hugging him. He was so passionate about what he was doing, about racing, about F1, everything."

Grounded by family

At the heart of this engaging character is a grounded, emotionally rich relationship with his family. While supported in following his racing dreams, he was told unequivocally that if he was to kart on a weekend, school must follow on a Monday until he graduated. He duly did so, completing his maturità school exams just after coming third – his first podium – at the Canadian GP last year.

"Which driver has done the A-levels or the baccalaureate? Name me one that has finished school. No one," Wolff observed pointedly of his prodigy.

His father, whom Antonelli has described as his "rock", has been a guide, mentor and, both admit, stern taskmaster at times. There is also a close bond with his mother, Veronica, and younger sister Maggie. "The way I am I don't think I could cope with having a bad relationship with my family member, it's something that I would really struggle to cope with," he said.

Intriguingly, racing was not a direction Marco had initially wanted. A quick sportscar driver who was unlucky not to land a works seat, he said: "I was scared that my son [would] relive the same situation. At the beginning, I was very stressed about the passion my son had for motorsport." Having let him pursue the dream, Marco has been there ever since, sharing an easy, close bond with echoes of the one Hamilton shared with his father, Anthony, in his early years.

Raw speed, vintage maturity

Wolff has noted Antonelli's ability to switch into a "race mode" – a zone of wholly focused, daring, aggressive driving where he pushes to the limit and past it on occasion, but always learns. "We had to teach him instead of always being at 110%, just be at 100%," Lagrue said, a trait Wolff would rather indulge than having to "take a stick to a donkey".

Alongside that verve, Antonelli has shown a maturity beyond his years, displaying the judgment of a veteran while managing the endless adjustments of touch and feel of these fiendishly complex modern cars – such that he, like many of the greats, has made it look easy. From a brilliant win in Belgium to an extraordinary victory from 19th on the grid at the Italian GP, watching him this season has been a pleasure.

Before that Italian GP triumph, Antonelli said he wanted to win the championship but that it was important to do so by being himself. The latter he can consider a job most admirably well done. The former is only a matter of time.