Antonelli starts with a podium
The first big opportunity to shine in Formula 1 arrives now, for Kimi Antonelli. The Bolognese knows well that he has the best car of the lot – the Australian GP confirmed it – and he started the year with a solid second place behind teammate George Russell.
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The 19-year-old made up for a bad start, made complex also by a technical problem that forced him to chase from seventh position. The pace of the W17 and confident driving, however, allowed him to climb back to P4 before snatching the podium zone with a pit stop under the Virtual Safety Car, a choice that Ferrari preferred not to follow. In the second part of the race Antonelli also closed in on Russell (from 7 to 3 seconds), proving he can hold his own against his teammate: details need to be sorted out to fully blossom (and having a clean race weekend definitely helps) but the premises for a great 2026 are there.
Antonelli’s words
“I have to thank the team, because today’s result was possible mainly thanks to them and thanks to the work they did yesterday after FP3“, he commented to Sky Sport F1. “I’m happy, it was a good start to the season. The car is there, it’s nice to drive and it’s a complete car at the moment, but we need to keep working because Ferrari was fast in the first stint. In addition, the situation can change very quickly, so we must try to maximize the result every time. It was certainly a weekend of ups and downs, the positive thing is that I managed to react to every situation. The pace is good, I feel good in the car, great things can be done in the future“.
“I had a problem at the start, I had no power and I was very worried, because the car didn’t respond when I went on the throttle“, he added. “When I stopped in the box and put the engine mode on, I saw ‘zero’ on the battery and I got a bit scared. The start, unfortunately, was what it was. We saw live what the start is like, and it’s definitely a point we need to work on“.
