This was tantamount to adopting the Silver Arrow pilot. The celebrated man reacted in disbelief, almost shyly and thus exactly the opposite of his actions on the track, which had driven him to a victory the likes of which Formula 1 has rarely seen.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli's biggest fight on this historic race Sunday was perhaps not the one from the back row of the grid to the front. Overwhelmed by the reactions of an automobile nation that had had to wait 60 years for an Italian racing driver to win at home, he was forced into a defensive role. He answered the question as to whether this triumphant journey would lead straight to winning the title according to the regulations from the Mercedes team's de-escalation manual. He doesn't even think about it, he wants to stay in the moment and takes each race as it comes, said Antonelli. Second-place teammate George Russell used the same choice of words to deal with his frustration. But the Briton became a few shades clearer: "Kimi is definitely in control of it, and he deserves to be in control. I'm not even thinking about a fight or a comeback at the moment."
With his seventh win of the season, after just one and a half years in Formula 1, Antonelli has become the second best Italian after Alberto Ascari, the two-time world champion from the 1950s. Ascari is his role model, but the 20-year-old can't do much with pathos. He will certainly never forget this day, but was it the best race of his career? “The best is yet to come,” Antonelli said. He is now 67 points ahead of George Russell, who is second three times: in the World Championship, in the race - and in the future also in the team.
Drive carefully? Oh what! Shortly before the end, Antonelli almost set the fastest lap of the race
Russell looked humiliated, even broken. Russell parried the instructions from the Mercedes command post in the final phase to the two drivers not to take any risks in view of the double lead in the direct duel with increased will to fight. One or two maneuvers were at the limit of what racing team boss Toto Wolff could tolerate. Antonelli almost lost his Silver Arrow when his opponent drove him towards the gravel trap. Wolff implied a future stable order at Sky: "That was certainly not necessary, we should have avoided this one moment. I don't yet know exactly how we will learn from it."
His new parade driver's anger at his rival's hindrance was evident after the race. Antonelli expressed this with an even more courageous step on the accelerator pedal, and against the declared wishes of his race engineer, he also set the fastest lap of the race at the last minute. Former Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg commented enthusiastically: “He drove like a Michael Schumacher, from behind through the field, to perfection.”
For Toto Wolff, who had put racing trainee Antonelli in a Formula 1 car for the first time in the same place two years ago, which he had driven into the barriers after a few training laps, his belief in the talent was now paying off. “From his toughest moment in Formula 1 to his most beautiful – the circle has come full circle,” said Wolff jubilantly. Although he compared Antonelli's triumph to a miracle, he also said that he had seen it coming: "I've been working with racing drivers for some time now, observing their energy level, their attitude or their behavior patterns. I knew that it was Kimi's mission to win the race. I already talked to his father about that on Saturday evening, and he also saw it coming. It developed over the weekend that a special moment could be coming."
He knows from experience: When a driver is at one with his car, there is nothing that can stop him. It is "still surprising and impressive to see how quickly he is developing," said Wolff: "For me, he is like an AI agent who is constantly improving himself and learning. His age is certainly an advantage in becoming cognitively and intellectually stronger. He is incredibly methodical."
The lead in the overall standings over Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari, whose sixth place in the race is emblematic of the Scuderia's embarrassing performance in Monza, has grown to 76 points. The course of the race was just as demoralizing for the seven-time champion as it was for Russell, and not just because Antonelli literally left him standing while overtaking. Even before Charles Leclerc spectacularly lost his red racing car in the Parabolica corner, Hamilton had been pushed away by his teammate and thus deprived of any chance of victory. What can help in the future, perhaps a stable order for Hamilton? The Brit complained in frustration: “It’s far too late for that, I’ve lost too many points.”
