Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the current leader of the Formula 1 championship, has made it clear that he is not thinking about the possibility of winning the title, even after extending his lead in the standings with at least 17 races ahead.
After winning the last four races consecutively, his latest victory took place in an exciting competition in Montreal, where he maintained an intense duel with his teammate, George Russell, until a vehicle component failure left Russell out of the competition.
As a result of this situation, Antonelli’s championship lead grew from virtually 11 points to 43, a margin never seen during the last season. However, when asked if he thought he had gained a certain safety margin, the 19-year-old driver said: “Yes, but to be fair, I’m not thinking about the championship. I’m focusing on each race. It’s still too early to talk about that.”
Furthermore, he added that despite having this difference, he does not want to relax and must keep improving, as the competition is closing in quickly, with Russell showing great pace.
After managing to surpass Russell in four consecutive qualifying sessions, this time Russell regained the advantage in both sessions in Montreal, with a difference of just 0.068 seconds each time. The performance of both drivers was very close throughout the competition.
Max Verstappen, one of the drivers who reached the podium in Montreal, commented on Antonelli’s excellent work, emphasizing that being consistent is essential to winning a championship. According to Verstappen, “Every weekend you need to try to maximize and be better than your teammate. If you do that, you’ll have a good chance, but there’s still a long way to go.”
Historically, the path to an F1 title is complicated. Lewis Hamilton, who competed for the title in his first year, has highlighted that Antonelli has support that he didn’t have at the time. This kind of support can be vital for a young driver in development, as is the case with the Italian.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_8ad6ef0430daa77ca206a759e51b8caf49ea9aff