{"id":780893,"date":"2026-07-05T16:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T16:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/780893\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T16:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T16:18:11","slug":"kimi-antonelli-showing-traits-to-become-f1-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/780893\/","title":{"rendered":"Kimi Antonelli showing “traits” to become F1 great"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes<\/a> boss Toto Wolff reckons his star youngster Kimi Antonelli<\/a> is displaying all the “traits” to become an all-time Formula 1 great after clinching pole for the British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old beat Ferrari<\/a>\u2019s Charles\u00a0Leclerc<\/a> by almost two tenths for his fifth pole of 2026, on the same day that Antonelli overtook Lewis Hamilton<\/a> to win the Silverstone sprint race.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Antonelli\u2019s pole is even more impressive considering that for the final runs in Q3 he was sent out on track first, prompting an angry response from him, but something he still overcame.<\/p>\n

So it is the latest\u00a0installment in the sophomore\u2019s domination of the current campaign as five wins in eight leaves him top of the championship and 43 points ahead of team-mate George Russell<\/a> in second.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t won the world championship yet, so we always need to consider the big picture because he\u2019s being compared to the great ones,\u201d Wolff told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he has all the traits to be a great one, but you need to lock in the results and yeah, he doesn\u2019t show any weaknesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a little bit on the back foot, no problem, as any driver, you don\u2019t like to be sent out first. He made that comment in the\u00a0pitlane and then parked it.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0compartmentalised. It doesn\u2019t play any role in his ability to drive fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Andrea <\/p>\n

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Simon Galloway \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

If\u00a0Antonelli becomes world champion in 2026 then he will be the youngest to ever do so, breaking the current record held by Sebastian Vettel<\/a> who was 23 years and 134 days when he won in 2010.<\/p>\n

So the Italian\u2019s form is certainly impressive and even more so when one considers the jump he has made from 2025, the year he endured an extremely up-and-down rookie campaign.<\/p>\n

There were times when the Mercedes driver made key mistakes, allowed the pressures of his home races get to him, and scored just two points finishes across the middle nine grands prix.<\/p>\n

Antonelli eventually finished seventh in the championship and 169 points behind the impressively consistent Russell, who was the heavy pre-season favourite for the 2026 title.<\/p>\n

Wolff added: \u201cIt\u2019s a pleasure to watch. You can see the delta time getting faster and faster and faster and no mistakes.\u00a0I\u2019d say he\u2019s really performing considering it\u2019s only his second year. He\u2019s performing on such a high level.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a really bad run last year and George was operating very well. But I think he\u2019s probably victim to the pressure, to the new environment that comes upon you – he was just 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that way, it\u2019s remarkable how he came out of the blocks at the beginning of this year. It\u2019s almost like, experienced, mature, but he\u2019s just 19.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos from British GP – Sunday<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

We want your opinion!<\/p>\n

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n

Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n

– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mercedes boss Toto Wolff reckons his star youngster Kimi Antonelli is displaying all the “traits” to become an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[12295,64,63,2334,817,367581,813,816,369582,945,85],"class_list":["post-780893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-british-gp","tag-f1","tag-f1-british-grand-prix-2026","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-kimi-antonelli-showing-traits-to-become-f1-great-toto-wolff","tag-mercedes","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780893","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=780893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}