Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli won his very first Grand Prix this season. During the second round of the championship in China, he was the first to cross the finish line. Not much later, another victory followed in Japan, with which he took the lead in the standings from teammate George Russell. Yet that first victory remains the most special for the young Italian. In Suzuka, he revealed how he was flooded with congratulations, including from big names in the sports world.
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The media in Suzuka asked Antonelli if he had already recovered from his first F1 victory. “Yes, by now I have, but it took a while,” he laughed. “It was truly the best day of my life, because I’ve been working towards this since I started karting as a child. It was an incredible feeling to finally achieve that first victory. I had never experienced anything like it before.”
The Italian teenager, who became the youngest leader ever in the world championship after his second triumph in Japan, was asked about the number of congratulations he had received. “A lot,” he grinned. “I had more than a thousand messages on my phone.” Among those messages were congratulations from some of Italy’s most celebrated sports figures. “My idol Valentino Rossi wrote to me. That was really special. But Jannik Sinner also sent me a very nice message. Moreover, he even dedicated his speech after the Indian Wells final to my victory. That was really cool.”
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