Released on August 28, 2026 by Gallucci Bros., “Kimi Antonelli. How He Became a Phenomenon” by Umberto Zapelloni, with illustrations by Giovanni Gastaldi, lands in bookstores on the busiest weekend of the year for Italian motorsport. The Monza Grand Prix is just around the corner, the protagonist has just turned 20 as the World Championship leader, and Italy, for the first time since Alberto Ascari, can dream of having its own champion at the top of the standings in the home race.
The volume, 128 pages in the Young series (15×21 format, 16.50 euros, recommended from 11 years old), is not an essay for insiders. It is an illustrated biography designed for young people, written by someone who has been telling Formula 1 stories for decades and drawn with the same direct and slightly ironic tone that Gastaldi brings to the pages of L’Espresso, Il Sole 24 Ore, or The Economist.
The phenomenon who still doesn’t have a driver’s license for a long time
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, born in Bologna on August 25, 2006, is already a unique case. In the 2026 season, in his second year with Mercedes after replacing Lewis Hamilton, he has won six Grand Prix (China, Japan, Miami, Canada, Monaco, Belgium), collected ten podiums in twelve races, and arrived at the halfway point with a 59-point lead over Russell and Hamilton. He is the youngest pole sitter, the youngest World Championship leader, the youngest to complete a Grand Slam. Records that the back cover lists without emphasis, because the list is already long.
Zapelloni, former deputy editor of Gazzetta dello Sport and a historic contributor to Corriere della Sera and Il Giornale, tells the story of the boy: good at school, fond of pranks and video games, kind, raised with talent shown “since he was a child, driving racing cars on his father’s knees,” who is also a driver. The support of the family — dad Marco, mom Veronica, sister Maggie — and above all “commitment and determination” are the red thread of the book.
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The pages that remain
Two episodes give an idea of the spirit of the volume. In the chapter “Hidden among the tires” the first entry of Kimi into a Formula 1 paddock is told: at seven years old, at Hockenheim for a Porsche Supercup, without a pass. His parents hide him in a pile of tires and cover him with an umbrella. “The game is done.” It is not a triumphant entrance, but “it gives an idea of the family spirit.” Shortly after, “That photo with Hamilton”: in 2018 the twelve-year-old Kimi, already a karting promise, is included among the grid kids on the Monza grid. Dressed all in white, with the F1 logo on his shirt, he shakes hands with Lewis Hamilton, the reigning world champion. “It is almost a sign of destiny,” writes Zapelloni, “because six years later Mercedes will hire him precisely to replace him.”
There is also the quote that closes many of the internal pages: “Wherever they send him to race, he quickly understands tracks and opponents […]. He needs very few laps to realize how to make the best use of the car he has available.” A talent that emerged already in karting and that, once in single-seaters, allowed him to “make a difference immediately.”
Why this book now
Gallucci chose the perfect moment. While Kimi celebrates his 20 years, appears in Topolino as “Kimi Paperelli” and leads the standings, the younger ones need an accessible story, not a technical treatise. Zapelloni, who has already told the stories of Senna, Prost, the history of F1 in 50 portraits, and Formula Italia, knows how to keep the pace without trivializing. Gastaldi, with his cartoonish and clear style, makes the scenes familiar: the child on his father’s knees, the pile of tires, the selfie in a purple suit surrounded by peers. The book does not promise the world title. It says something more concrete and, for an eleven-year-old who dreams of motors, more useful: Antonelli’s success is built “with dedication and respect.” From karts to single-seaters, with the family covering him with an umbrella and a boy who, even as World Championship leader, continues to say that sometimes he still struggles to believe what he is doing.
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