Former F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has stated he would choose to sign Kimi Antonelli over Max Verstappen.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Verstappen has long been seen as the strongest driver on the grid, winning four consecutive titles from 2021 to 2024.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
However, Antonelli has lifted himself into F1 stardom this year with a dominant run at the front of the field, and is currently on course for his maiden title.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old currently holds a 66-point lead over team-mate George Russell, taking seven race wins so far this year.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
When discussing a hypothetical draft scenario, akin to the system used in the NBA or NFL, Steiner was asked for his first pick on a four-year contract, to which he replied: \u201cKimi.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
After it was raised that he chose Antonelli over Verstappen, Steiner added: \u201cI mean, four years.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said four years, and if you said two years… four years, if I have to keep him for four years, I think he [Antonelli] will be better than him [Verstappen].\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tSteiner praises Antonelli home showcase<\/p>\n
Antonelli was praised earlier this month for his victory on home soil as he rose from 19th on the grid to the top step of the podium.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
It drew comparisons to other wins from towards the back of the field, including Max Verstappen’s triumph in Brazil in 2024, when he started from P17 on the grid.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Steiner was left blown away by Antonelli’s display, believing it eclipses Verstappen’s effort in terms of impressiveness.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that [Verstappen in 2024] was more spectacular,\u201d\u00a0he said. \u201cThis [Antonelli in 2026] is better, but it was less spectacular because when Max did it, there was much more, ‘what is happening here?’.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was like he sneaked forward with the second restart; in which position did he start on the second start?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cAs he said, then with the tyres, it gave him an advantage, but also a disadvantage.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s not like a clean drive to the front like Max did, but as a performance, it was more because it was a very solid race.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other one was rain, and in the rain you can take risks. And then if you go off, you say ‘I had nothing to lose. I had to risk it’\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cBut like this, he didn’t risk anything. He just drove a fantastic race.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has stated he would choose to sign Kimi Antonelli over Max Verstappen.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,2476,578,2479,2477,2480,2478,930,576,577,932,1885,2475,582,82],"class_list":["post-903766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-f1","tag-f1-calendar","tag-f1-live","tag-f1-results","tag-f1-standings","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-max-verstappen","tag-motorsport","tag-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}