Kimi Antonelli may be the \u201cultimate underdog\u201d according to Nico Rosberg, as the Italian moves to downplay his title chances.<\/p>\n
Three race weekends into the F1 2026 season, 19-year-old Antonelli is leading the Drivers\u2019 Championship on 72 points, nine ahead of his Mercedes teammate George Russell.<\/p>\n
Kimi Antonelli downplays F1 2026 title chances<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n Although he started his season with a huge crash in FP3 at the Australian Grand Prix, losing it on the kerbs in his qualifying simulation, he has barely put a wheel wrong since.<\/p>\n Going on to finish runner-up to Russell that weekend, Antonelli<\/a> fired back in China where he became the sport\u2019s youngest pole-sitter before fighting back from a tardy start to win the grand prix.<\/p>\n He made it two-from-two in Japan to snatch the lead of the standings away from Russell.<\/p>\n His performances have made him the youngest-ever leader of the world championship, at just 19 years, seven months, and 4 days.<\/p>\n On the back of a pre-season, when talk centred on Russell as title favourite, the Brit having been with Mercedes since 2022, Antonelli has emerged as the potential fairytale story.<\/p>\n One that 2016 Mercedes world champion Rosberg appreciates.<\/p>\n F1 2026: The season\u2019s winners and losers<\/p>\n The results of the F1 2026 championship <\/a><\/p>\n The F1 2026 Drivers\u2019 and Constructors\u2019 Championship standings<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhat an amazing story we have,\u201d he told Bloomberg.<\/p>\n \u201c19-year-old Kimi Antonelli, the ultimate underdog, is leading this world championship three races in.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s wonderful.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has so many fans. Even at the conference here in San Francisco. Loads of Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli fans as I was walking up on stage, so it\u2019s nice to see.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Ferrari F1 race winner Eddie Irvine agrees with Rosberg.<\/p>\n \u201cKimi is a real title contender, but it\u2019s still too early to make any predictions about how the season will end,\u201d Irvine told Gazzetta dello Sport.<\/p>\n Asked if he expects incidents between Antonelli and Russell as their battle intensifies, Irvine replied: \u201cI\u2019m 100 per cent sure of it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe stakes are too high, and the drivers have similar performances. Therefore, Toto Wolff can\u2019t intervene with team orders.<\/p>\n \u201cHe experienced very tense situations when Lewis Hamilton battled with Nico Rosberg, and then with Max Verstappen. On the latter occasion, there was a bad accident at Silverstone.\u201d<\/p>\n But can Antonelli actually do it?<\/p>\n F1 2026 marks the Italian\u2019s second season in the sport. Last year he was outpaced by Russell, with the Briton clinching two grand prix wins and scoring double Antonelli\u2019s points.<\/p>\n This year, though, the 19-year-old appears to have found his form with the new generation cars. But even he is downplaying his chances.<\/p>\n \u201cBig step. Experience does a lot,\u201d he said of his progress from last year to this year.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, last year I\u2019ve gone through a lot, and it taught me massively more than what I anticipated, and for sure it\u2019s helping so far this year.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, there\u2019s still a lot of work to do, but I definitely feel much more in control of the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not thinking too much about the championship,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course it\u2019s great, but it\u2019s still a long way to go and need to keep raising the bar because, you know, George is very quick and for sure he\u2019s going to be back at his usual level, and also competitors eventually they will get closer.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we need to keep our head down and keep raising the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n As for his team principal, Toto Wolff says Mercedes is now seeing the success that he also believed would come from Antonelli. Although two wins in two races, that was unexpected.<\/p>\n \u201cI think when we decided to give him the seat one and a half years ago, we hoped for this trajectory, with the ups and downs that you expect from a young driver aged 18 in the first year,\u201d reflected Wolff.<\/p>\n \u201cEventually, second year, the success would materialise, and I think this is happening.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, could we have predicted two wins out of three races for Kimi? No.<\/p>\n \u201cBut in Japan, he was quick when it mattered, the luck was on his side, and also I think all of that contributed for him to have this consecutive victory.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n