Outside Line: Reader asks where would Kimi Antonelli be driving pure-sang Formula 1 cars?
F1 OpinionTuesday, 21 July 2026 at 14:07
Pedro1963: Antonelli's rise from an OK 2025 rookie season to leading the 2026 championship is remarkable. However, when I read this article, I couldn't help but wonder how much of that is driven by this season's power-starved, console-game formula versus Kimi's true talent. Where would Antonelli be driving pure-sang F1 cars? Worth an article by Paul Velasco?
Thank you for your comment on a recent post, Pedro1963. I love a writing challenge, and writing about Kimi Antonelli thrills me no end.
I gather from your comment that you are wondering whether this new formula suits the iPad generation, of which Antonelli is very much a part. Perhaps the sheer complexity of it plays right into his hands, and that's a very fair point.
These cars are built for a new generation of kids who do basically everything on an iPhone. If you think about it, the steering wheels in modern Formula 1 cars are essentially glorified iPads, with all the instructions and functions they can perform. You could say the technology has simply been reverse-engineered for Formula 1 use.
Again, that's a fair point because it might well be the case. However, we don't know and won't know until the next generation of rules comes into effect. Even before then, these cars will evolve and the rules will have to be tweaked so that the shitshow Formula 1 has become, as a power-management series. can be addressed. It's not even racing. I don't know what it is...
I digress, this is about Kimi Antonelli
As I have written before several times, in awe, I've never seen a driver so adaptable to everything that has been thrown at him. His victory in Belgium was almost perfect. The guy is driving with tremendous confidence. For a 19-year-old, he seems to be driving like a man with 19 years of experience.
It's unbelievable. It's prodigious, and I think we have to accept this.
In religion, you have angels who come down and are heralded by the faithful. If Formula 1 is a religion to you, as it is to me, this is our angel. We've been sent an angel.
We were sent Max Verstappen before him. He was an angel. Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Mika Häkkinen and Ayrton Senna. These are our angels.
Rather than predict, criticise or question, I suggest sit back on Grand Prix and savour what is happening in front of us every weekend. The Kid is simply untouchable at the moment. Nothing can faze him.
I have never witnessed the destruction of a teammate in real time quite like what he has done to George Russell. And it's not just any teammate. It's a highly, highly rated teammate who was expected to romp to the Formula 1 World Championship with the car Mercedes had produced.
Think about it. Take Kimi Antonelli away and put a lesser driver in his place. George would probably be romping to the title, as the whole world expected.
Where did Kimi come from?
Antonelli was much heralded in the junior series, and Toto Wolff and his team of scouts recognised his talent and was fast-tracked into Formula 1, at great risk it has to be said.
He skipped Formula 3 and went straight into Formula 2, where he did not have a stellar season. But he was only 17, and Wolff made probably the most daring decision of his life and one that has truly paid dividends by promoting the 18-year-old to a Mercedes seat and asking him to fill the enormous shoes of Lewis Hamilton.
It was a generational change at Mercedes. Many believed Russell would pick up the baton and lead the team while Kimi learned. It did not get off to a particularly good start, but in retrospect, there were signs of things to come.
I, for one, did not believe Kimi was ready for promotion. How wrong I was. I'm so pleased that I was wrong because look at what we've got. Amid this mockery of a Formula 1 championship, we have a diamond in the rough, shining brightly among the rest.
At Monza, when he made his FP1 debut for Mercedes, he overdid it. He overcooked it and stuck the car in the gravel. For me, that was a sign that he wasn't ready. But I was wrong.
He was blisteringly quick before his eagerness to impress put him in the gravel. His first season can be described as a tale of two halves. The first half was very much about learning, and at times he appeared almost out of his depth.
Faster than George
The second half of the season was very, very impressive. Scoring almost double the points he amassed in his first 12 races in Formula 1. It was a steep learning cruve, and he aced all the subjects in the latter half of 2025.
You also have to remember that he entered Formula 1 when those cars were at their peak and at their very best. It was the final season of a generation that was a much better offering than what we have now. It was hybrid sure, but still balls-to-the-wall racing. Proper racing cars doing proper things.
George and the other established drivers had experienced those cars for five years. In truth, the rookies who arrived on the scene at the beginning of 2025 were on the back foot, and history shows that to be true. Nevertheless by the end of the year, onboards showed clearly that Antonelli was special in the slow stuff, faster than George actually.
Fast-forward to 2026, and Russell did as predicted by winning the Australian Grand Prix. But then all the statistics, predictions and odds were ripped up by Antonelli, who astounded Formula 1. He was not only mega on the slow sections of tracks, he was equally astounding tacking the high speed sectors. Proofe were the five wins in a row. Unprecedented. Uncanny. Amazing.
In doing so, he conquered every kind of circuit, fast and slow. Monaco and Spa-Francorchamps. And in doing so he etched his name alongside the greats.
So, circling back to the question: Where would Kimi Antonelli be in the pure-sang (pure-blood) Formula 1 cars that I and so many others crave to have back?
I have no doubt that Antonelli would adapt and be the benchmark, alongside the usual suspects such as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, provided Lewis is still around when the new rules arrive. Time will tell, but this time I am confident I have it nailed.
Thank you for tapping me up for my thoughts on the Kimi Antonelli phenomenon. A final time from me, hat in hand, I have to say that I got it wrong. Toto Wolff and Mercedes got it right. This kid is sensational. He is our Angel. Savour him.
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