More than just defense
At the end of the Hungarian GP Andrea Kimi Antonelli was able to start his holidays with a 50-point lead in the World Championship over the second in the standings, Lewis Hamilton. An enormous margin if you think about the predictions at the beginning of the year – when Antonelli was not considered at all for the title and everyone was certain of a win by his teammate George Russell – but also just the forecasts made for the same Budapest weekend, in which Hamilton and Ferrari were supposed to gain points on the Italian Mercedes driver.
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Instead Antonelli finished his Sunday with five points more than the seven-time world champion, thus increasing his margin from 45 to 50 points. An advantage that, however, does not give peace of mind to the Brackley team principal Toto Wolff. After the Hungaroring race, where Antonelli finished third, the Austrian manager reminded that the World Championship is still very long (even though, with the Qatar and Abu Dhabi races uncertain, it is not yet known how long the 2026 season will last).
Wolff does not trust
“It is still early and I am superstitious. Even though the gap is 50 points, there are still many races to be held,” Wolff said, speaking with journalists present in Hungary – one or two retirements can radically change the course [of the season] and we have not been at our best in terms of reliability. So we simply have to keep making the most of every single day, from Friday to Sunday, and hope that in the end it will be enough.”
After all, the precedent of Piastri 2025 and the near comeback by Verstappen after finding himself 104 points behind first place with nine GPs still to go is a warning still fresh in everyone’s memory in the paddock. And Wolff does not want to risk making mistakes just at the most crucial moment.
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