Montreal, Canada (AFP) — Kimi Antonelli may have ridden his luck, but his unprecedented fourth consecutive victory after a demanding scrap with Mercedes team-mate George Russell confirmed not only his precocious talent, but his mental toughness.
The 19-year-old Italian, who is setting records each time he races, opened a 43-point lead in the drivers’ title race, ahead of pre-season favourite Russell, and was then hoisted on the shoulders of his Silver Arrows predecessor Lewis Hamilton for a memorable podium picture.
Antonelli roasts Russell
If Russell thought things were bad after Miami, where he struggled to fourth, this was even worse — a stabbing reality check that confirmed his team-mate’s talent, pure pace and ferocious will to win.
This kid, he knows now, will give him nothing and grumbling with some justification about bad luck will not help.
At 28, this is supposed to be Russell’s time after serving a long, glowing and respectful apprenticeship, but Antonelli does not care.
Russell’s pre-race comments about not needing to panic sounded hollow in the aftermath of his lap 30 retirement with a power failure, after which he all but ran up the white flag.
“Right now, it’s his to lose,” said the Englishman. “He’s so many points ahead; it feels like the gods don’t want me in this fight.”
Russell would do well to recall what happened last year when compatriot Lando Norris was overshadowed by McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, who won four of the first six races: it was Norris who fought back to win the title.
He also needs to remember that there are still 17 races to be run, starting with Monaco at the start of June.
‘Old school’ Hamilton shuns simulator
While youth flourished for Mercedes, experience and longevity paid off at Ferrari, where seven-time champion Hamilton delivered his best race and result since joining the scarlet Scuderia last year.
The 41-year-old Briton, written off as a has-been in some quarters as he struggled to adapt last year, engineered a dazzling second-place finish, including a bold pass of old rival and four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull in the closing laps.
And he did so without making pre-race use of the Ferrari simulator because he preferred, he said, to trust himself and his gut feelings in setting up his car.
That decision resulted in his second Ferrari podium this year, after China, where he also waved away the simulator.
It brought him his 204th podium finish — including a record 105 wins — from 385 races and a boost to morale and hopes.
“Always before, except probably in 2008, I didn’t use the ‘sim’,” he said.
“It’s not a necessity. It’s a tool that can be powerful, but I’m old school and probably better without it.
“The positive of being able to drive the real car is going back and saying ‘this is actually what it feels like, these are the things that we’re missing’ so we can improve it.”
Hamilton, however, is a master of Montreal, where he shares with Michael Schumacher the record of seven wins and thus Monaco, where he has won three times and suffered misfortunes, will present a very different challenge to his independent approach.
Red Bull cash in
as McLaren gamble fails
Like Hamilton, Verstappen gave his team robust personal feedback on Saturday about his car’s failings and their response was to give him a car that on Sunday brought him a first podium of the year in third.
Team boss Laurent Mekies said Saturday’s debrief was “painful” but had given Red Bull important data about what did not work on their car. And with Isack Hadjar, who finished fifth, showing real promise, they appear to have closed the gap.
