{"id":424188,"date":"2026-05-04T03:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T03:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/424188\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T03:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T03:44:08","slug":"kimi-antonelli-is-italian-superstar-like-jannik-sinner-says-mercedes-toto-wolff-formula-one-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/424188\/","title":{"rendered":"Kimi Antonelli is Italian \u2018superstar\u2019 like Jannik Sinner, says Mercedes\u2019 Toto Wolff | Formula One 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, has praised the victory by his driver Kimi Antonelli <\/a>at the Miami Grand Prix as his best yet and said that the 19-year-old\u2019s astounding start to the season has put him in the same category as the Italian superstar tennis player and Wimbledon champion, Jannik\u00a0Sinner.<\/p>\n

Antonelli won in Florida after a tight battle with the McLaren of Lando Norris who chased him to the flag but could not get past. The victory is his third in a row and ensures the Italian now leads the world championship from his Mercedes teammate, George Russell, by 20 points, in only his second season in F1.<\/p>\n

Wolff was relishing having such a young charger with so much potential in the Mercedes stable. \u201cIt seems like a lot of the speed has always been there, everything is chipping away at the finer details,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easier to slow someone, calm someone down that is wild because you won\u2019t be able to accelerate a donkey, so for me that was his best race so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reminds me of his karting days or Formula 4, there were no mistakes today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercedes remain unbeaten in GPs this season with Russell winning the first round in Australia but it is Antonelli\u2019s composure as he stepped up into a car that is leading the field that has stood out. His rookie season last year was marked with some unforced errors and occasions when he pushed too hard but the teenager has swiftly adapted as he finds himself as a realistic title contender, exceeding even Wolff\u2019s expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s astounding, these few races,\u201d said Wolff. \u201cIn a way, its what we\u2019ve predicted as a team that we would have ups and downs last season, moments of brilliance, moments where you want to tear your hair out and this year, it\u2019s coming together.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideHow do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts?Show<\/p>\n

Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for ‘The Guardian’.<\/p>\n

If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you\u2019re on the most recent version.<\/p>\n

In the Guardian app, tap the Profile settings button at the top right, then select Notifications.<\/p>\n

Turn on sport notifications.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that any of us would have expected this kind of run. We\u2019ve given him a car that is very good, and an engine that is right but how he\u2019s been able to monetise on that every single weekend is special.\u201d<\/p>\n

On each of the Sundays when Antonelli has won this season in China, Japan and Miami, Sinner has also won tournaments \u2013 in Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid \u2013 in what has been something of a sporting bonanza for Italian fans and Wolff believes the pair now belong in the same bracket.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe easier bit is making sure that he keeps both feet on the ground here in the team. His parents have played a big part in that, to leave him grounded. The bigger problem is the Italian public.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that they are not qualified for football, it\u2019s all about Sinner and Antonelli, and Antonelli and Sinner. Sinner won in Madrid, so it\u2019s the two that are superstars.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, has praised the victory by his driver Kimi Antonelli at the Miami…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-424188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}