Andrea Kimi Antonelli has something different
Can you be winning and even dominant in Formula 1 without necessarily being disliked by the general public? This is what Andrea Kimi Antonelli might soon discover, who with his extraordinary personal record of six wins in 11 GPs and with his 50-point lead over the first chaser in the standings Lewis Hamilton, has been the main protagonist of the first part of the 2026 World Championship just concluded. According to Toto Wolff, who certainly knows a lot about champions, the young talent from Bologna has a characteristic that is usually missing in other great racing cannibals in history: the ability to attract the genuine sympathy of a large part of the public, even beyond the logic related to the support that we certainly know well in Italy.
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Toto Wolff’s comment
This is at least the impression of the Mercedes team principal after the first part of this 2026 F1 championship, expressed in an interview with RacingNews365: “Everyone loves a fast driver. But when that fast driver is also a kind and supportive person with the team, who never says anything negative, then obviously it means a big hit! In the past, in Formula 1, it was thought that to win you had to be an a**hole, ruthless and opportunistic. I don’t think Kimi is like that… He simply drives faster than others but remains a kind person”.
Obviously, it is difficult to know what will happen in the coming years, when maybe Andrea Kimi Antonelli will already be an established champion. According to Toto Wolff, who literally saw him grow since when, at 12 years old, in 2019 he took him under the protective wing of the Mercedes driver academy, Antonelli will not change: “We don’t know what will happen in three years, but I don’t think we will see differences. He received a solid education. Which driver has obtained maturity or a diploma? Name one who finished school. No one! His parents instead told him ‘Monday morning, after the kart race, you go to school’. In our organization, we are trying to guide Kimi as much as possible and make sure he does not lose sight of what is essential, even if his success will continue to grow”.
In reality, many drivers on the grid are at least high school graduates – some, like Marc Gené and more recently Nicholas Latifi, even have a degree, but after the end of their Formula 1 career – although it is true that, mostly for age reasons, no one like Kimi Antonelli has obtained maturity while already in F1: Max Verstappen for example dropped out before graduation to focus entirely on his driving career, having debuted in the top series while still a minor.
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