{"id":898891,"date":"2026-09-20T12:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T12:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898891\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T12:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T12:30:11","slug":"sebastian-vettel-makes-feelings-clear-as-antonelli-eyes-16-year-f1-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898891\/","title":{"rendered":"Sebastian Vettel makes feelings clear as Antonelli eyes 16-year F1 record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sebastian Vettel agrees with the adage that \u201crecords are there to be broken\u201d as Kimi Antonelli<\/a> closes in on his record of being the youngest-ever F1 world champion.<\/p>\n

Vettel won his first of four titles in 2010 at 23 years and 134 days. Antonelli, who is only 20, is potentially weeks away from his first crown, which he could secure at next month\u2019s Singapore Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Kimi Antonelli closes in on Sebastian Vettel\u2019s youngest F1 champion record<\/p>\n

Antonelli<\/a> is in the midst of a record-breaking season.<\/p>\n

The Italian became the sport\u2019s youngest pole-sitter at the Chinese Grand Prix, and two weeks later, was the youngest driver ever to lead the F1 drivers\u2019 standings.<\/p>\n

Claiming his second win of the season at the Suzuka circuit, Antonelli leapfrogged his Mercedes teammate George Russell to lead the championship by nine points. He has gone on to build an 81-point buffer to his teammate.<\/p>\n

Such is his advantage, the Italian could wrap up the title at round 17, the Singapore Grand Prix. However, that would require Russell to go three races without a point.<\/p>\n

Given the likelihood that Russell will score points, it is more likely that Antonelli could secure the title at the Brazilian Grand Prix with three races remaining.<\/p>\n

And if it goes down the wire, the Italian may yet celebrate winning the title in front of his home fans, as Imola is thought to be the preferred venue for the season finale should Qatar and Abu Dhabi be cancelled.<\/p>\n

Kimi Antonelli is closing in on a maiden F1 title<\/p>\n

The F1 2026 Drivers\u2019 and Constructors\u2019 Championship standings<\/a><\/p>\n

When can Kimi Antonelli win the F1 2026 World Championship?<\/a><\/p>\n

In doing so, Antonelli would break Vettel\u2019s record by three years.<\/p>\n

Asked by PlanetF1.com if that would be \u201cbittersweet\u201d, Vettel replied: \u201cNo, I\u2019d be very happy for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had an incredible year, and there\u2019s the old phrase that records are there to be broken.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe still has a lot of years ahead of him to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the sport, so as a spectator it\u2019s very exciting. I\u2019d wish for the others to come back and be more in the mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m independent and happy for him because I know how much work there is behind it to achieve it, and whoever will win, will deserve it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonelli is well aware of Vettel\u2019s support as he revealed the four-time world champion often messages him around F1 race weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a friend of mine,\u201d he said. \u201cHe messages me after every race and sometimes even before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is nice to receive so much support and appreciation from him. I am really happy about these messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/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

Read Next:\u00a0Nico Rosberg spots \u2018worst-case\u2019 Mercedes scenario in final Antonelli hurdle<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sebastian Vettel agrees with the adage that \u201crecords are there to be broken\u201d as Kimi Antonelli closes in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,818,10115,945,44,851,85],"class_list":["post-898891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-mercedes","tag-news","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898891","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=898891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}