![](\"https:\/\/www.grandprix.com\/display\/photo?photo_caption=Kimi+Antonelli%2C+Miami+GP+2026&photo_copyright=%C2%A9+Mercedes&photo_url=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.grandprix.com%2Fjpeg%2Fraces%2Fpmia26%2Fsat%2Fmer%2Fantonelli10-lg.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nKimi Antonelli, Miami GP 2026
\u00a9 Mercedes<\/p>\n
Antonelli’s stunning start to 2026 has already triggered comparisons in Italy with tennis world number 1 Jannik Sinner, while Toto Wolff recently warned about the danger of building a castle of expectations around the Mercedes driver too early.<\/p>\n
Speaking to veteran Italian journalist Leo Turrini, Domenicali agreed caution is needed.<\/p>\n
Kimi shouldn’t be compared to any of the greats of the past, said the Italian.<\/p>\n
It’s unfair to him and disrespectful to the legends of motorsport.<\/p>\n
I’ve known them all, from Senna to Schumacher, from Raikkonen to Alonso, all the way up to Hamilton and Verstappen.<\/p>\n
Each has left an indelible mark on F1.<\/p>\n
Still, the former Ferrari team principal admitted Antonelli is already showing exceptional qualities.<\/p>\n
Aside from his natural instinct for speed, what strikes me about Antonelli is how quickly he learns from his mistakes, Domenicali said.<\/p>\n
And it’s right that so many Italians compare him to Sinner, recognising the emotions he elicits.<\/p>\n
Then, momentarily stepping away from his neutral executive role, Domenicali admitted where his heart would lie if Antonelli pulled off a sensational title triumph.<\/p>\n
Given my role, I can’t say that, he smiled.<\/p>\n
But I’ll say it – if he won the world championship, I’d be thrilled.<\/p>\n
We speak the same dialect, he could be my son.<\/p>\n
Domenicali also reflected on Ferrari, the team he once led, amid yet another difficult title challenge for the Maranello outfit.<\/p>\n
When I was team principal at Maranello, we lost three drivers’ titles, in 2008, 2010, and 2012, by a handful of points, he said.<\/p>\n
You once wrote that if we’d won them, my story and that of the Prancing Horse would have changed, and maybe that’s true, but it doesn’t matter.<\/p>\n
Ferrari remains in the fight in 2026 despite greater recent momentum from McLaren and Red Bull – with Mercedes continuing to lead from the front.<\/p>\n
Right now, it seems to me that the Reds need consistency to reach their goal, Domenicali said.<\/p>\n
Besides, I’m personally convinced that this championship is still open – McLaren is back, and so is Verstappen.<\/p>\n
If Ferrari were to win a race between now and the end of June, the outlook would change – enthusiasm helps.<\/p>\n
(GMM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAY 13, 2026 Stefano Domenicali admits he would be “thrilled” if teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli became world champion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[944,855,884,911,898,64,63,839,840,892,936,937,922,864,868,843,512,874,906,897,817,836,904,848,845,826,837,813,835,816,867,876,894,841,842,833,908,887,860,909,930,914,939,886,934,832,834,858,941,875,861,850,870,854,900,866,846,880,943,889,878,823,881,863,933,935,910,859,913,844,923,927,896,926,883,938,932,824,901,871,852,849,888,872,891,915,822,838,918,916,857,879,893,869,931,885,924,847,882,851,865,925,928,942,929,85,920,921,902,862,919,917,873,940,905,912,895,853,856,877,819,903,899,907,890],"class_list":["post-668432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-adrian-sutil","tag-albers","tag-alesi","tag-ammermuller","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-autoracing","tag-autos","tag-badoer","tag-bahrain","tag-barcelona","tag-benetton","tag-bruno-senna","tag-button","tag-cars","tag-china","tag-david-coulthard","tag-davidson","tag-doornbos","tag-f1","tag-f1-racing","tag-fauzy","tag-felipe-massa","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-ferrari","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-one","tag-formula1","tag-giancarlo-fisichella","tag-gilles-villeneuve","tag-glock","tag-grand-prix","tag-grandprix","tag-grandprix-com","tag-hakkinen","tag-hamilton","tag-heikki-kovalainen","tag-hill","tag-hockenheim","tag-honda","tag-hungary","tag-ide","tag-indianapolis","tag-inside-f1","tag-insidef1-com","tag-jaime-alguesuari","tag-japan","tag-jaques-villeneuve","tag-jarno-trulli","tag-jenson-button","tag-juan-pablo-montoya","tag-kamui-kobayashi","tag-karthikeyan","tag-karun-chandhok","tag-kimi-raikkonen","tag-klien","tag-korea","tag-kovalainen","tag-kubica","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-liuzzi","tag-lucas-di-grassi","tag-magny-cours","tag-malaysia","tag-mansell","tag-mark-webber","tag-mclaren","tag-michael-schumacher","tag-minardi","tag-monaco","tag-montagny","tag-monte-carlo","tag-monteiro","tag-montreal","tag-monza","tag-motorsport","tag-nakajima","tag-nick-heidfeld","tag-nico-hulkenberg","tag-nico-rosberg","tag-paffett","tag-pedro-de-la-rosa","tag-piquet","tag-prost","tag-racing","tag-racingcars","tag-red-bull","tag-renault","tag-robert-kubica","tag-rosberg","tag-rossiter","tag-rubens-barrichello","tag-san-marino","tag-sato","tag-sauber","tag-schumacher","tag-scott-speed","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-sebastien-buemi","tag-senna","tag-silverstone","tag-singapore","tag-spa","tag-sports","tag-spyker","tag-super-aguri","tag-sutil","tag-timo-glock","tag-toro-rosso","tag-toyota","tag-trulli","tag-turkey","tag-valles","tag-verstappen","tag-vettel","tag-vitaly-petrov","tag-vitantonio-liuzzi","tag-webber","tag-williams","tag-winkelhock","tag-wurz","tag-yamamoto","tag-zonta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}