MADRID (AP) — By now, even Kimi Antonelli's closest rival is conceding that the race for the Formula 1 title is pretty much over.
Antonelli won his eighth race of the season — and second in a row — at Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, extending his championship lead to 81 points with nine races remaining.
The 20-year-old Italian, the youngest ever to lead the F1 championship, doesn't want to get too far ahead of himself, though.
“It’s great, but we’ve just got to keep pushing, keep delivering the results and, you know, just trying to do the best job I can whenever I go on track,” he said. “Of course, yes, I have a big lead, but you never know what can happen. So just need to be ready for anything and keep maximizing every opportunity I get, and then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the year.”
His Mercedes teammate, George Russell, hinted he already knows the outcome.
“Realistically, I’m not in the fight for the drivers’ (championship), and that just allows me to focus race by race and try to get some good results.”
Lewis Hamilton, third in the championship, dropped 101 points behind Antonelli after not finishing on Sunday because of a brake failure.
Russell was fifth on Sunday. He had already said earlier in the weekend that Antonelli “has done a better job” than him this season and “deserves to be leading” the championship.
Antonelli doesn't like the rhetoric that the title race is over and that he can start taking a more conservative approach.
“That’s exactly what I don’t want to do,” he said. “I want to keep pushing race by race, keep delivering and keep enjoying all the way, and trying to do my best every race. And then we’ll see where we end up.”
Praise from former champions
Antonelli won Sunday ahead of former champions Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. Both rivals praised his performance this season and weighed in on how he may possibly manage his emotions and the pressure of having a big points lead.
“Kimi just needs to do what he’s doing,” Verstappen said. “I mean, it’s fantastic, so it’s working really well. He should not stress about it too much, which I don’t think he is. He’s just delivering, he’s confident, he’s getting more and more experience. He’s still young, he’s still very early in his career, but he’s flying and it’s just working.”
Verstappen said Antonelli “shouldn’t overcomplicate things” and “he’s not doing that.”
“He has a lot of good people around him that know what he needs. So, it’s all working well,” the four-time world champion from Red Bull said.
Norris, who won his first title last year with McLaren, said Antonelli has “been impressive since the first race this year.”
“You know, he’s beating a much more experienced teammate, and a decent teammate, so I don’t want to give him any advice because he’s doing a scarily good job,” Norris said. “It’s cool to see someone so young doing such an incredible job and more than likely go on and win the championship. He’s just not driving like it’s his second year in F1, that’s for sure.”
Antonelli, who is looking to become the youngest F1 champion, credited the support of the team and his family.
“I’m lucky to have really good people around me,” he said. “I have an incredible team that supports me, great family. Especially my dad is the one that keeps me on the ground. You know, especially when he sees that, you know, I might lose a little bit the way.
“On my side, as I said many times, I just try to do my best every race, trying to really drive as fast as I can whenever I go in the car,” Antonelli added. “And then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the year. But definitely I don’t want to overcomplicate things or, you know, just drive worrying about championship or result. Just driving, doing my best.”
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