Stewart “blesses” Antonelli: “Amazing work, and he is as mature as few at 20 years old”

Antonelli as leader in Monza

After 73 years, an Italian arrives at the top of the World Championship at the Monza GP: Kimi Antonelli is giving substance to dreams, with a 59-point lead over his closest rivals – Lewis Hamilton and George Russell – and 83 points over the most dangerous prospect (Lando Norris).

The Bolognese is convincing everyone with exceptional and consistent performances. While there is still room for improvement in qualifying (Zandvoort reminded us), in the race his pace is always deadly. And now that he has solved the start problem, Antonelli can think of an attacking Monza from turn 1, which he will set up from the back due to the penalty for the engine replacement, hoping not to lose too many points in the standings.

Stewart’s words about Antonelli

Jackie Stewart, who triumphed twice at Monza (1965 and 1969), is crazy about Antonelli and “blesses” him like this, in words reported by Autosprint: “Kimi is doing an amazing job. He is showing to be extremely fast, but not only that. He also has a level of maturity that is very rare in drivers his age, and he should be particularly proud of this characteristic, because it is the hardest to have“.

“I am sure that the passion he will feel around him at the Autodromo will give him an extra boost, and he undoubtedly deserves it all“.

It has been since the time of Alberto Ascari that an Italian compatriot arrived at the home GP as leader. You have to go back to 1985 to see the last Monza with an Italian in contention for the championship: a mocking Monza for Michele Alboreto and Ferrari, a race that directed the World Championship towards Alain Prost. Finally, Antonelli can wave the tricolor on the highest step of the Monza podium, something that hasn’t happened for 60 years: Ludovico Scarfiotti’s victory dates back to 1966.

Translated from

Tardozzi: “With Acosta we have a very promising future, he is already a certainty”