'Kimi Antonelli is world champion!', Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media. Complimenting the Italian Mercedes F1 driver, she recalls that 'at just 20 years old he achieved an extraordinary achievement, becoming the youngest world champion in the history of Formula 1. A success - continues the premier - which brings an Italian driver back to the top of the world, rewarding talent, commitment, determination and dedication. A source of great pride for our nation.'
"Congratulations to Kimi Antonelli, protagonist of an extraordinary feat that places him in the history of Formula 1. At just 20 years old, he becomes the youngest world champion ever and brings an Italian driver back to the top of Formula 1 after 73 years. A success that rewards talent, commitment, determination and passion. Kimi is a source of great pride for all of Italy. My congratulations to him and my best wishes for a career still full of satisfactions." This was stated by the president of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa.
"Andrea Kimi Antonelli is F1 world champion and with him Italy is once again at the center of the world!!", commented the Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, on social media. "The youngest world champion, at twenty years old, is Italian, 73 years after the last Italian victory in the F1 Championship by Alberto Ascari. Kimi's final victory - we read - will leave an indelible mark in the memory of all of us, thanks to a crystalline talent, a ferocious determination, a genuine simplicity, typical of great champions. Kimi is the confirmation that in Italy, in sport and beyond, we have young people of extraordinary value: we must know how to recognize them, accompany them and support, creating the conditions for them to express all their talent. Formula 1 teaches us that to win a Grand Prix and even more so the World Championship, speed is not enough: you have to know how to choose the right trajectories, tackle the most difficult corners in the best possible way, find a balance between courage and recklessness, know how to "listen" to the car, communicate with the team and inspire telemetry to him, to his family and to all those who contributed to this extraordinary feat - concludes Abodi - my congratulations go out. thank you: thank you Kimi, lovely Italian boy, winner!".
'He moved me a lot, he was great, it was wonderful to follow him, it's one of those moments that makes you remember where you are." Words from Valentino Rossi who, in connection with Sky Sport, congratulated Kimi Antonelli, Formula 1 world champion. "He was scary, he made a difference on everyone, the one he made on his teammate was impressive. The Mercedes was the best car but it didn't dominate... So much of this championship is thanks to it." Then Rossi adds: "I also heard about him thanks to the name Kimi which recalls Kimi Raikkonen and I also started following him on karts. He can become one of the strongest drivers in history. I like to match up with him and I like to cheer for him."
"It was truly epic. I think we lacked a bit of pace, but we did the right things. I sweated to keep Lewis behind", underlined the Red Bull driver, Max Verstappen, after the victory in the Mexican Formula 1 Grand Prix. Then congratulations to Antonelli for the victory in the World Championship: "He had a crazy season. To win at such a young age is impressive, I'm very proud of him."
"Such a young giant", "He made history", "a unique champion", "historic triumph of an Italian". These are some of the titles that foreign online media dedicate to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, crowned Formula 1 world champion in Mexico, underlining above all the fact that never before him had a twenty-year-old won the world title. "He is still an eternal Peter Pan, but he already has the reflexes of a champion", writes L'Equipe, while for the BBC the victory "is an incredible breath of fresh air for Formula 1". "The child who fell asleep on the slopes made his dream come true", is the image chosen by Marca.
"We saw the champion last year. This year he won, but already in the first season he showed his talent, because in moments of difficulty he was able to react." Thus Kimi Antonelli's father, Marco, commented on the Mercedes driver's triumph to Sky's microphones. His mother, Veronica, also present on the circuit together with her eleven-year-old daughter, Maggie, underlined Kimi's qualities and also thanked the Mercedes team who followed and supported him until he reached this goal.
"It's a great emotion. I wish Kimi to always continue to chase his dreams with the simplicity that distinguishes him." This is how Alessandra Regina, teacher and school coordinator of Andrea Kimi Antonelli's class at the Salvemini Institute in Casalecchio di Reno, in the Bologna area, comments to ANSA on the conquest of the Formula 1 world title by the young driver from Bologna. Antonelli, who just last year took the high school exam at the institute, became world champion at the age of twenty, bringing the world title back to Italy after 73 years.
"I want to congratulate Kimi Antonelli. He has written a page in the history of Italian and world motoring and is the pride of a young, courageous and talented Italy. An example of how with passion, determination and heart, dreams can become reality." This is how Lapo Elkann comments on the triumph of Andrea Kimi Antonelli who won the Formula 1 world title at just twenty years old. "Congratulations also to Toto Wolff for believing in him from the beginning. 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", adds Elkann.
San Marino, where Kimi Antonelli lives and got his driving licence, is preparing for the celebration for the new Formula 1 world champion. "Andrea Kimi Antonelli has written a memorable page in world motorsport, winning the title of Formula 1 world champion at the end of a season lived at a fast-paced pace. At just twenty years old, 'our' driver has shattered every record of precociousness, inscribing his name in the roll of honor of the highest automotive category and surpassing the previous historical record", writes the Secretariat of State for Sport.
