At just 20 years old, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli is dominating the season with eight grand prix wins, five of them consecutive from China to Monaco. As Motorsport.com reports, the young championship leader holds a commanding 292 to 211 point advantage over team-mate George Russell. Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen sits sixth in the standings with 145 points, having recently dismissed any thoughts of mounting a championship comeback like last year.
Despite his success, Antonelli is still studying the four-time world champion's craft. "Max has a really incredible vision as well of the race, how to position the car," Antonelli noted ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
He pointed to a specific duel in Madrid involving McLaren driver Lando Norris and Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. At Turn 1, Antonelli and Verstappen both took to the escape road at the chicane, with Antonelli rejoining ahead of Norris and Verstappen returning ahead of Hamilton. While the Red Bull pitwall ordered Verstappen to hand a spot back to Hamilton, Antonelli immediately yielded the lead to Norris.
When Antonelli ran off again while attacking the McLaren, he temporarily rejoined in front before letting Norris back through, allowing Verstappen to box the Mercedes in on the approach to Turn 7 and drop him to third. Although Verstappen later handed the place back to let Hamilton through, Antonelli realized a costly tactical error.
The lesson was that holding the lead—even for a single lap before giving it back—would have allowed them to build a gap over the chasing pack and swap positions safely. The young Mercedes star also highlighted Verstappen's uncanny ability to extract pace when it counts most, pointing to a Monaco FP3 session where Red Bull appeared off the pace before Verstappen nearly grabbed pole in qualifying.
"With Max, what's also great is the unknown at times, especially in free practice – you don't really know his full potential because when it matters you always find something more and it's really fascinating to see," Antonelli said.
