Formula One has always been more than just a sport – it’s a theatre of speed, skill, and spectacle. And nowhere is that more evident than in its recent boom in the United States of America, where the Netflix hit series ‘Drive to Survive’ has turned F1 into a cultural phenomenon.
The country now hosts three races, with two more just across its northern and southern borders. Alongside the tracks, celebrities, influencers, and industry insiders have flocked to F1 events, while Apple reportedly invested $250–300 million in a Hollywood movie about the sport.
Yet even before the newfound glitz and glamour, drivers had long been striking the right pose. One of them happened in this country not too long ago, when Sebastian Vettel got out of the RB9 and bowed down to it at the 2013 Indian Grand Prix after sealing his fourth world title.
Then there’s Daniel Ricciardo and his ‘shoey’, Michael Schumacher slamming the steering wheel hard enough to break it, Fernando Alonso’s emotion-filled scream while standing on top of the Renault R25 and so on. Some were planned, others spontaneous, but each is etched into the sport’s folklore.
Enter Kimi Antonelli. Devoted fans knew what celebration to expect from him, yet it slipped amid the chaos of his maiden F1 win in China earlier this month.
“To be fair, I forgot to do it after my first win. I wanted to do the Usain Bolt celebration. I really like Usain Bolt because he’s like the fastest man on earth and I really wanted to do it. I love his celebration, I did it in Formula 2 as well but I just forgot it in the moment,” he said before the Japanese GP.
That, in a nutshell, encapsulates the youthful exuberance of Antonelli, a teenager whose best laid plans took the backseat as raw emotions took centre stage. Normal service resumed at Suzuka, with Antonelli channelling his inner Bolt after a comfortable victory. For fans, this was just a glimpse of the rising star who is comfortably navigating the cut-throat nature of motorsport’s pinnacle.
Fulfilling destiny
Despite the brief dalliance with football when he was younger, it was motorsports that was in Antonelli’s destiny, thanks to his early interest in karting as well as his father’s established roots in the Italian F4 championship, among others.
Then there’s also the small matter of where their house is located: the Antonellis live in an area of Bologna called ‘Motor Valley’ where Lamborghini, Ducati, Maserati and Ferrari are all based nearby, in addition to the Imola and Modena race tracks.
At age five, Antonelli took the wheel of a go-kart (called Delfino) at the track in Forli and never looked back. Even as a child, F1 was the ultimate ambition.
“At Hockenheim in 2014, I couldn’t get into the paddock because I was too little. My Dad decided to hide me inside a stack of tyres and wheel me through on a trolley. We put an umbrella on top to make it harder to spot me!” he told Mercedes before his F1 debut.
“I got through and into the pit lane, and my dad’s friend got me a pass. I had a look around for an hour and it was such a cool experience – but we always laugh at the story of the trolley.”
That said, when the call came from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff to step up to F1, Antonelli understandably thought it was a joke. For he had not even made his Formula 2 debut by then. But for Wolff, it was no laughing matter, especially since he was picking a rookie to replace seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
“In the car, Kimi is just a monster. When the visor is down, that boy just delivers. It is very rare to see kids win everything they’ve ever participated in. In F1, these have become the great champions, the likes of Max Verstappen, Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna. Kimi has the same great potential,” Wolff told Netflix.
Antonelli was always earmarked internally as Hamilton’s replacement at the Silver Arrows. The latter’s move to Ferrari accelerated the timeline.
Clean slate
The 2026 regulation shake-up allowed Mercedes to challenge Red Bull’s dominance and halt McLaren’s recent success. The W17 became arguably the best car on the grid, and Antonelli, alongside George Russell, was perfectly positioned to capitalise. Pre-season predictions had tipped Russell for the championship, a notion reinforced by his early win in Melbourne and his Sprint victory in China, where a collision forced Antonelli to battle tooth and nail just to finish fifth.
While Russell basked in the headlines, the younger, less-experienced Italian quietly turned heads. Fans and pundits alike took note of the raw talent Antonelli was displaying, proof that Mercedes had a genuine star in the making.
Antonelli broke through spectacularly, claiming pole position and, despite a tricky start that left him briefly shuffled by Ferrari, fought back to secure his first F1 victory. Before the ink was dry on the record books and before critics could assemble their doubts, he demonstrated in Japan that he was no one-off.
A hint of luck played its part in both wins: Russell’s qualifying woes opened the door in China, while a well-timed Safety Car smoothed the way for Antonelli to register back-to-back triumphs. Some might call it “champion’s luck.”
After the roller-coaster of his rookie 2025 season, Antonelli now appears more composed and level-headed, fully capable of holding his own at the front of the grid.
“Experience does a lot. Obviously, last year I’ve gone through a lot and it taught me massively more than what I anticipated, and for sure it’s helping so far this year. Of course, there’s still a lot of work to do, but I definitely feel much more in control of the situation.”
While being the youngest person to lead the drivers’ championship doesn’t make him the favourite to seal the title, the last two races have at least shown that we have a title fight on our hands – even if it is between two teammates. Like a deja vu for Mercedes and Wolff.
As for Antonelli, he knows that there’s a lot to improve and a month’s break comes right in time to aid the same.
“Luckily, I’ve got three weeks, so now I can practice some clutch drops just to get a better feel with it, because definitely it’s been a weak point so far this year and you need to improve that because you can easily win or lose races with that,” he said after the Japanese GP.
Chasing a high bar
Not many teenagers bother about their legacies beyond the glamour of triumph. Antonelli, if the early signs are anything to go by, is an outlier here too.
Like a plethora of drivers, he looks up to Senna. He may never have seen the three-time F1 champion race live, but has spent countless hours watching and rewatching Senna’s performances, and studying everything the legendary driver accomplished both on and off the track.
Senna’s influence is evident even in Antonelli’s choice of car number. The Brazilian used the number 12 for three seasons with Lotus, with which he got his first F1 win (Portugal 1985). He stuck to that number at McLaren, where he won his first world title in 1988.
“It is also the number I first used in single-seaters. From F4, I started to use ‘12’ straight away and it worked pretty well. Hopefully, I can carry that on in F1. I was also 12 years old when I joined the Mercedes junior programme, so there is that too.”
Antonelli’s admiration goes beyond driving prowess. He hopes to emulate Senna’s character and empathy as much as his skill.
“Spa when he jumped out the car to turn off the engine because he saw the driver wasn’t conscious. He was really special. He wasn’t afraid to show his origins. Brazil was in a difficult situation in those years, but he was always proud to be a Brazilian and show that,” Antonelli, then in the F2 circuit, said.
“He’s not only a good driver but also a person. He was a really empathetic person. My dream is to reach F1 and to achieve a little part of what he achieved during his career. So he’s my first influence and inspiration.”
Senna set a benchmark so lofty that only a select few have ever come close, and fewer still have surpassed it. It’s far too soon to say how close Antonelli might get to matching the Brazilian’s legacy. Yet, if the first two races of the season are any indication, he already carries himself with a composure well beyond his years.
On the asphalt where legends are born, Antonelli has begun writing his story and the opening chapters are impossible to ignore. Under the helmet and behind the wheel, he carries more than speed; he carries curiosity, joy, and the quiet audacity to dream. He is a reminder that F1 is as much about the soul of the driver as the machinery beneath him.
