F1: from the 'no' to Antonelli to the Hamilton-Leclerc arguments, the regrets at Ferrari

Lapo Elkann's congratulations and Luca Cordero di Montezemolo's words that smack of regret for what could have been and wasn't in Rosso Ferrari.

The appointment with history centered by Andrea Kimi Antonelli on board a Mercedes cannot help but lead to rewinding the tape of the fast career of the Bolognese driver who, at a certain point in his growth path, found the road to Maranello blocked, unable to get on that Prancing Horse on which the Ferrari fans would have loved to see him ride.

He himself, called Kimi like the Finnish Raikkonen, the last to give the Drivers' World Championship to Ferrari in 2007, 19 years ago now. "For the Rossa, Kimi was still too small - revealed the former Prancing Horse team principal, Maurizio Arrivabene -. In my last year at Ferrari, in 2018, Antonelli was 10-11 years old and Ferrari didn't have the structure to take care of such young kids".

And so those who already believed in the young talent from Bologna, namely Giovanni Minardi, son of the founder of the Formula 1 team of the same name, Gian Carlo, decided to present to the talent scouts of the Mercedes Academy that boy who already wanted to race with Hamilton and Verstappen. And in the meantime it became known that the Stuttgart team and Toto Wolff believed so much in 'Kimiferma' that in 10 years they invested as many millions to make it grow and therefore win, writing the history of F 1 and of Italy's motoring world.

"Congratulations also to Wolff for believing in him - says Elkann today - Antonelli has shown, together with his family, sensitivity, humility and kindness of spirit. In addition to his sporting talent, these are the human qualities that crown him champion". A tribute to Antonelli from a protagonist of the Ferrari world which contrasts with what happened yesterday in Mexico City, with Lewis Hamilton's furious reaction against the race direction and his teammate Charles Leclerc for the collision at the start. "I lost a victory and Ferrari is aiming for second place in the constructors' championship - the Briton will say at the end of the race -. It's a lack of respect towards all the people who work in the factory. He's 29 years old now, so I don't think it's a question of age but of mentality.

We'll talk about it face to face, we'll see if this changes anything but something certainly has to change."

A quarrel between an 'old lion' of Formula 1 and an expert driver like Leclerc which also highlights Ferrari's latest strategies in F1, namely to rely on established drivers rather than take risks by focusing on young talents. And the regret of not seeing Antonelli in Red also and above all belongs to former Ferrari president Montezemolo: "I'm sorry not to have seen him at the wheel of Ferrari but he would have been under pressure, let's hope that in a few years he can sit in the Red. But as Italians and F1 fans we must all be happy - said Montezemolo -. I already put him among the greats and I hope he wins as much as Schumacher and Hamilton, but let's not burden him too much. He has a great career ahead of him thanks also to his family environment. That that we have seen we have never seen before with other drivers."