Until relatively recently, the status of being Formula 1 world champion came with a sort of unspoken obligation.<\/p>\n
Not unlike a head of state, a president or a prime minister, a driver holding the \u2018office\u2019 of world champion had a duty to act as the sport\u2019s statesman: Formula 1\u2019s official ambassador to the world.<\/p>\n
That has shifted slightly in the modern era.<\/p>\n
Not because today\u2019s drivers are different or lesser characters compared to those of the past, but because the landscape of sport \u2013 the world itself \u2013 has changed to promote a certain selfishness.<\/p>\n
Because the various trappings of life as a world champion \u2013 the fame and celebrity it brings, the flurry of commercial opportunities it opens up \u2013 have inevitably overshadowed the status that comes with reaching the sport\u2019s summit.<\/p>\n
Becoming world champion is as much a career move these days as it is an achievement in itself.<\/p>\n
It is one of the many reasons why anyone with motor racing in their bones should rejoice at the thought of Mercedes\u2019 little prince, Kimi Antonelli, being crowned king over the coming months.<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Quote-ANTONELLI-japan-concs.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
On the verge of becoming the sport\u2019s youngest-ever world champion by some margin, F1\u2019s answer to Valentino Rossi will restore something \u2013 a quiet dignity and grace \u2013 that has been missing in an era of endless noise.<\/p>\n
The most impressive thing about his eighth win of the season in Madrid, putting him 81 points clear of George Russell with a maximum of nine races remaining, was not what he did on the track.<\/p>\n
It was instead the way he carried himself in the immediate aftermath of the chequered flag as he offered his sympathies to Lando Norris, denied what would surely have been a comfortable victory by an ill-timed virtual safety car.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel a bit bad for Lando,\u201d he said over team radio as he accepted the congratulations of the Mercedes team.<\/p>\n
Then came the opening answer of his post-race interview in parc ferme: \u201cIt\u2019s good to win, but it doesn\u2019t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved the win\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The misfortune that befell Norris happened early enough in the race for Antonelli to feel no guilt whatsoever over how victory came his way.<\/p>\n
Yet there is something \u2013 a lot, actually \u2013 to be said for the athlete, especially one so young, whose first thought in triumph is for the defeated party.<\/p>\n
Not least after a triumph like this, one that puts him out of sight in whatever remains of this title race (in truth, the destination of the 2026 world championship has been obvious since Monaco<\/a>).<\/p>\n Kimi Antonelli vs George Russell: Mercedes head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season<\/p>\n F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n It spoke volumes about the man behind the driver. Humble. Classy. Elegant.<\/p>\n There is a great purity about him that ensures whatever ego may lie beneath the surface \u2013 the greatest in elite sport are always defined by a towering inner certainty \u2013 remains concealed.<\/p>\n Still on his rocketship to the moon, there is no baggage about him. He has not yet been around long enough to become tarnished by rivalries or give the watching world an excuse to dislike him.<\/p>\n He is the rare sort of athlete \u2013 think Rossi himself or Roger Federer in tennis \u2013 who unites opinion rather than divides it; the type people cannot help but root for no matter where their loyalties may lie.<\/p>\n This is no corporate hologram in waiting, but a sportsman in the good old-fashioned sense.<\/p>\n A sensitive soul, too, on the evidence of how some of his greatest feats in 2026 \u2013 the latest being his from-the-back victory at Monza \u2013 have moved him to tears.<\/p>\n He has been brought up well by his father Marco, there to offer him a rose in parc ferme in Madrid, and nurtured beautifully by Mercedes into a champion in all but name.<\/p>\n With doubt persisting over the final two races of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, there is a growing likelihood that Antonelli\u2019s first title-winning campaign will conclude, of all places, at Imola, a stone\u2019s throw from his hometown of Bologna, as winter arrives in Europe.<\/p>\n What a great day that promises to be.<\/p>\n What better representative of our sport.<\/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