Prodigious Kimi Antonelli now playing catch me if you can

Kimi Antonelli is human after all. Of late, everything he has touched has turned to gold. In Barcelona qualifying, he had to settle for bronze.

George Russell has been the benchmark all weekend and deservedly took pole ahead of Lewis Hamilton with Antonelli in third. But such is the length of the straight into turn one with a potential tow that Antonelli can still have aspirations of stretching his winning streak to six.

The Italian began the weekend with an apology of sorts from Kim Kardashian after she took his post-race cool-down hand towel at the preceding race. Following the two practice sessions in Barcelona on Friday, he received an embroidered towel with a note saying, “To Kimi, from Kim”.

A season and a bit since replacing Kardashian’s boyfriend, Hamilton, at Mercedes he has been the undoubted star turn of 2026.

No wonder Hamilton remarked to Antonelli after becoming the youngest ever winner of the Monaco Grand Prix last week: “That’s a lot of wins, you’re catching me up.” There are 100 wins in Formula 1 between them but Hamilton also mused: “Just imagine what the future holds for him. It’s a pleasure to witness it.”

It has been exactly that. The season started with Russell as the clear title favourite, which he backed up by winning the season opener in Australia. Since then, a combination of misfortune by the Briton and excellence by his teen teammate have led to five wins on the bounce.

Antonelli had started his rookie season in 2025 excellently, proving the point of those within Mercedes who had already earmarked him as a future world champion before his form in the car completely evaporated.

A sequence of nine races from the seventh to 15th grands prix equated to four retirements, only one podium and only one other points finish. This weekend, he was honest enough to admit that doubts crept in about whether his ascent into F1 had come too soon for such a young driver.

“I would doubt myself a lot,” he said. “Especially during that period, that difficult period in Europe. During that difficult period, I got to know myself better. This year obviously has been a different story. A lot has changed, I think.”

So what exactly? A massive part of it has been mentally. Picking up that first win broke off the shackles of the mental doubts and, ever since that point, it’s as if he hasn’t for a minute doubted or questioned himself.

The pace has always been there. His race engineer Peter “Bono” Bonnington can remember first seeing him at the wheel of a TPC (testing of previous cars). Most young drivers take a lot of laps to get up to speed. Bono remembers the Italian matching the top speed within three or four laps. “So we knew early on he was a diamond in the rough, [that] just took a little bit of polishing,” he said.

Bonnington has been central to that polishing. With oodles of experience – mostly doing the same role for Hamilton – he has been his guide and calming influence, as well as the brains to give him the necessary technical understanding.

Another key voice in his ear last season was Valtteri Bottas, now at Cadillac but the team’s reserve driver in 2025 who also doubled up as a mentor to the youngster.

Also, there has been a different feel to Antonelli race after race this season. He began the season as the fresh-faced understudy to Russell. Even when he beat him, Toto Wolff and co were quick to downplay any talk of title ambitions. Now he is 66 points clear at the top of the standings, that argument no longer works.

And Canada was the moment it became clear Antonelli was not going to play second fiddle as he and Russell clashed angrily on track and over the team radio in their battle for the ascendancy.

In his debut season, like any rookie he was guilty of pushing too much, now he seems almost in a flow state. Even his race starts – his one key weakness this season – have been on an upward swing, and he needs a good one today to maintain the winning streak.

Photograph by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images