Replace a little aggression with precision – Oleg Karpov
It’s really difficult to point a finger at anything in what has been a near-perfect start to Kimi Antonelli’s season – and there’s nothing to suggest there’s going to be much more to choose from in the coming months. That’s not to say the teenage protege of Toto Wolff is not going to march through the season without making any missteps, but simply to stress that there’s still a lot about Antonelli we need to learn.
Is he good at handling the pressure of leading the championship in its closing stages? Can he stay calm and collect points instead of trying to win every race? Is he prone to getting carried away by the outside world praising him? Is he mature enough to handle the demands of the Italian press, which at some point will inevitably stop demanding wins from Ferrari and switch its focus to Kimi?
He may well deal with all of it successfully. And this campaign may also give him a few more gifts, easing the pressure slightly.
But if there’s one thing he could still tell himself to work on now, it’s being patient with his own excitement. His battle with George Russell in Canada was amazing to watch, yet you may get the feeling that he didn’t always play his cards well enough in races where he arguably had better pace than his rival and team-mate. Almost all of Antonelli’s attempts were right on the edge – and perhaps could have been replaced with something simpler, but more surgical.
There’s probably still a bit more aggression in his driving than Wolff would want to see.
Consider off-track self-preservation – Jake Boxall-Legge
Raw speed? Check. Absolute lack of fear? Check. Racecraft? Improving. Tyre management? Almost there. This said, I believe a significant litmus test is looming for Antonelli as Formula 1 swings towards its European leg of the calendar, where the Italian’s rookie season derailed slightly in 2025. He needs to show he can compartmentalise and remove unnecessary distractions in his quest to win a title.
Antonelli felt the pressure at last year’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images
It’ll be of some help that Imola isn’t on this year’s calendar. Antonelli invited all of his friends and family to watch him at work in last year’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which perhaps levied more pressure upon him than he really needed, and he admitted that he hadn’t managed the off-track side particularly well.
He would do well to act upon those lessons. Essentially, it’s a case of maintaining the approach he’s had over the past couple of weekends and replicating that; with three sets of double-headers on the horizon, drivers need to look after themselves a bit. Marketing obligations are harder to avoid, but that’s for him and Mercedes to balance.
It’s not like he hasn’t been here before; his rise to F1 followed incredible success in the junior categories. F1’s a very different beast, so Antonelli must do whatever is within his power to make his title ambitions feel more comfortable.
Demonstrate and develop other abilities – Kevin Turner
It was obvious from his junior single-seater days that Antonelli was a potential F1 star. But after a rookie season in which he showed flashes of performance but largely played second fiddle to team-mate George Russell, few could have predicted he’d be this strong when faced with a championship chance so early in his career.
His speed was never in doubt and, so far in 2026, he’s showing signs that he can match Russell’s consistency. Maintaining that and avoiding the dips he had in 2025 will be crucial to his challenge, but there will be other hurdles. His racecraft is going to be more tested in the coming months.
Russell showed how tough he can be in Montreal and we’ve yet to see how Antonelli deals with an all-out Max Verstappen-style attack. The ideal response to these contests for the future of his career might not be the same as the right strategy when battling for a title. How Antonelli treads the fine line of not being a soft touch while also fighting his corner could be a fascinating aspect of this year and beyond.
Antonelli’s next big test could be a battle in the wet – and not the champagne spraying kind
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
We’ve still yet to get a total handle on his wet-weather prowess. Most greats excel in the rain and Antonelli was impressive in Melbourne last year, rising from 16th to fourth. But he then had a troubled British GP and scrappy Belgian GP, so the jury’s out. There’s a feeling that Antonelli will tick all the right boxes – it’s going to be fun to see how soon he can become the full package.
Take a deep breath and count to five – Stuart Codling
Antonelli is a phenomenal talent and a tremendously exciting driver to watch. But at times you can tell he’s become supremely agitated and begins to present as someone on the verge of a massive accident.
The occasionally harum-scarum nature of his racing is part of the appeal, of course, but at the same time what you don’t want while stringing together a world championship campaign is a driver who lets their emotions get the better of them at crucial moments.
In the Miami sprint, fluffing the start discombobulated Antonelli for the rest of the race – to the extent that he picked up a penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits. In the Canada sprint, emotions got the better of him again after George Russell legitimately (if impolitely) escorted him across the grass at Turn 1. On the same lap he nearly took both cars out while trying to pass at Turn 8. Toto Wolff had to intervene on the radio not once but twice to read the riot act.
And even the grand prix in Canada could have ended differently had Antonelli’s supreme reflexes not enabled him to avoid smiting Russell and taking them both out at the final chicane. He needs to calm it down a notch.
This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the July 2026 issue and subscribe today.
A run of five wins for the Mercedes star, but there’s plenty of work still to do
Photo by: Andrej Isakovic / AFP via Getty Images
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
