– At just 19 years old, Kimi Antonelli is the youngest driver ever to lead the Formula 1 World Championship. And although the Italian recently won three Grand Prix races in a row, Otmar Szafnauer believes that the motorsport world has yet to see the best version of Kimi Antonelli.
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“I think he is great and has the potential to become world-class over time,” said the former Alpine team principal in the podcast High Performance Racing. Due to his age, the Mercedes driver still has room for improvement biologically speaking.
“He is a teenager, and over time he will become mentally stronger physiologically because different areas of the brain connect with each other,” explains Szafnauer, adding: “I’m not sure if there is a ‘shortcut’ for these connections.”
Therefore, it is quite natural that Antonelli will get even better over time. “So I think when he is 25 or 26, you will see an even better Kimi Antonelli,” said Szafnauer, who worked with numerous drivers during his time in Formula 1.
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For example, in 2021 Sebastian Vettel drove for Aston Martin under team principal Szafnauer, and later at Alpine the now 61-year-old worked with Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri, who was then a reserve driver for the French team.
Kimi Antonelli is in his second Formula 1 season for Mercedes this year and has won three of the first four races of the season. In the championship, he currently leads his teammate George Russell by 20 points, who was actually considered a major title favorite at the start of the season.
“George is a great driver and can also become world champion. But Kimi, who is younger and less experienced, is a great driver,” said Szafnauer. If Antonelli becomes world champion this year, he would be the youngest champion in the history of the premier class.
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