Kimi Antonelli becomes Italy’s new superstar with Toto Wolff’s backing

“Forza Kimi!” Italy has embraced Kimi Antonelli after the 20-year-old delivered the long-awaited home triumph at Monza. As the Italian anthem, “Fratelli d’Italia,” echoed around the circuit, Antonelli, his family, motorsport fans and members of the Mercedes team were in tears.

The victory made Antonelli the first Italian to stand on the podium at the Italian Grand Prix since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. After 13 races, he leads Mercedes teammate George Russell by 66 points. Ten Grands Prix remain, but the article presents Antonelli’s prospects of becoming the first Italian world champion since Alberto Ascari as highly promising.

Italy and its car industry had waited for a triumph of this kind since 1953. Antonelli currently drives for Mercedes rather than Ferrari, a fact that could make it difficult for Ferrari to attract him to Maranello in the future. The article frames that possibility as the highest prize still ahead: winning races, taking the championship and one day joining Ferrari.

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With nine or ten years, Kimi had already achieved success in karting and won championships. We began watching him then, and in 2019 he joined the Mercedes Junior Team

Wolff says Mercedes began watching Antonelli when he was nine or 10 and had already won karting championships. Antonelli joined the Mercedes Junior Team in 2019. His father had also raced and owned two racing teams, giving the young driver access to experience and motorsport connections.

Wolff placed Antonelli in the Mercedes cockpit to fill the vacancy created by Lewis Hamilton’s departure. He acknowledges that the driver needed about a year to adjust to Formula One, which he describes as “another world” of glamour, money, sponsors, media and constant travel. Despite the doubts about putting an inexperienced teenager in the car, Wolff says data, trust and potential justified the decision.

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another world