One record after another
The record count needs to be updated again. We wrote it yesterday, after the second consecutive pole position that Italy had been missing since 1992, Andrea Kimi Antonelli is having fun rewriting the record books as far as our country and F1 are concerned. Today the young phenomenon from Bologna continued on this path, putting on a show and taking home his second consecutive success at the temple of Suzuka.
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Ascari reached, Hamilton surpassed
A result that becomes legendary for Italian motorsport, because it was since 1953 that an Italian driver had not achieved two consecutive victories in the Circus: the last – and only – one was Alberto Ascari who won the Dutch and Belgian GPs, thus completing a spectacular streak of nine consecutive victories in nine GPs held between 1952 and 1953 after skipping the Indy 500 that year. Ascari obviously became world champion in both years.
Regarding Antonelli, it is still too early to have these dreams, but in the meantime the 19-year-old Italian has taken the lead in the World Championship, ending another multi-decade drought: it was since 2005, in fact, that one of our representatives had not been first in the standings. The last was Giancarlo Fisichella who won the Australian GP, the opening race of that season.
But Mercedes’ #12 also made F1 history in general today, not just for Italy: in fact, never in 76 years of history had the Circus had such a young leader of the general standings. The previous record belonged to Lewis Hamilton and dated back to 2007. Not bad for a 19-year-old boy who, according to some, had been put in the car “too early” by Toto Wolff. The answer to the critics is arriving on the track.
