Kimi Antonelli - the real deal?
Discussion
Maybe it's time for Kimi II to have his own thread... I'm only a part-time armchair fan of F1, but to me he's showing a lot of promise.
He's fast, confident and great with the media. Here's hoping it's not a flash in the pan and he continues his meteoric rise.
Yesterday he enjoyed a bit of good luck with the SC timing, but I get the impression he would've made up the lost positions from the start anyway. I very much enjoy his driving style too; pretty smooth and unhurried. Obvs, having the best car on the grid (at the moment) helps, but Mr Saturday Russell is no slouch.
He's fast, confident and great with the media. Here's hoping it's not a flash in the pan and he continues his meteoric rise.
Yesterday he enjoyed a bit of good luck with the SC timing, but I get the impression he would've made up the lost positions from the start anyway. I very much enjoy his driving style too; pretty smooth and unhurried. Obvs, having the best car on the grid (at the moment) helps, but Mr Saturday Russell is no slouch.
I don't think he's a Max Verstappen but then who is. Maybe he's a Piastri, which is certainly good enough. He's young and he had a load of pressure to deal with last season. Toto certainly wishes he's the next Max. I'm yet to be convinced.
I don't think Russell is great with dealing with pressure and he seems to be doing a Lando. He might well win this seasons title but he'll probably make an absolute meal out of it. Kimi has the nothing to loose advantage as did Piastri last year.
I don't think Russell is great with dealing with pressure and he seems to be doing a Lando. He might well win this seasons title but he'll probably make an absolute meal out of it. Kimi has the nothing to loose advantage as did Piastri last year.
It’s not just Antonelli is it? All the young drivers seem to be doing very well.
I suspect this new formula is a great leveller, and everybody is driving well within themselves, just figuring out how to get the best out of the new drive system. What traditionally sorted the men from the boys doesn’t count any more. The cars are lining up in Noah’s Ark configuration at both ends of the grid, and the driver’s world championship is in reality the constructor’s championship.
I suspect this new formula is a great leveller, and everybody is driving well within themselves, just figuring out how to get the best out of the new drive system. What traditionally sorted the men from the boys doesn’t count any more. The cars are lining up in Noah’s Ark configuration at both ends of the grid, and the driver’s world championship is in reality the constructor’s championship.
It's early days, but the pieces are starting to fit together. Appalling race start but quick from the moment the cars took to the track Friday and put together a complete weekend, then took advantage of a little luck. First race weekend of the year with no track time lost due to driver mistakes and the upper hand over his teammate.
It was a shame the safety car robbed us of seeing a proper battle between Kimi, Oscar and George for the win.
It was a shame the safety car robbed us of seeing a proper battle between Kimi, Oscar and George for the win.
I can see this year playing out like last year.
Everyone thought Lando was going to walk it, then Oscar surprised a lot of people, but Lando's experience (plus a bit of luck) meant he won in the end.
I think this year everyone thought George will walk it, he's now getting a challenge from his young team mate, but over the course of the season it will come back to George
Everyone thought Lando was going to walk it, then Oscar surprised a lot of people, but Lando's experience (plus a bit of luck) meant he won in the end.
I think this year everyone thought George will walk it, he's now getting a challenge from his young team mate, but over the course of the season it will come back to George
MontyPythonX said:
I can see this year playing out like last year.
Everyone thought Lando was going to walk it, then Oscar surprised a lot of people, but Lando's experience (plus a bit of luck) meant he won in the end.
I think this year everyone thought George will walk it, he's now getting a challenge from his young team mate, but over the course of the season it will come back to George
Not sure I agree everyone would have thought Norris would walk it. the 2nd half of 2024 did show that Piastri would potentially cause him quite a big headache if he ironed out the big dips in performances he was getting earlier in the year and that ended up being the case. It's more that Piastri had a bit of a nightmare after the summer break perhaps more than Norris necessarily being more experienced that got him through in the end though I'd say? Everyone thought Lando was going to walk it, then Oscar surprised a lot of people, but Lando's experience (plus a bit of luck) meant he won in the end.
I think this year everyone thought George will walk it, he's now getting a challenge from his young team mate, but over the course of the season it will come back to George
Not sure what to make of Antonelli all round though just yet, he can drive this generation of cars pretty quickly and at the end of last year was proving a lot better than initially - think the earlier comment that the drivers are more driving well within their capabilities and it's more about figuring out other technical stuff better seems pretty plausible though.
I think Antonelli was a bit lucky in Japan.....
I think in qualifying, Russell's car was obviously not working correctly... lot's of Rear end issues. Kimi was lucky that Russell had problems.
In the race, he monumentally screwed up the start again. Loads of wheelspin and he's lost 4-5 places. Then the safety car basically gave him the race. I think the big thing about these cars is that racing other cars is the problem. If you're out front, and you can break the energy flip-flopping, you can drive smoothly and pull a lead.
If your in a battle, then the energy store is you worse enemy..... Lando was saying that he never wanted to take Hamilton at the chicane. But because he lifted in 130r the car subsequently deployed all the energy down the next straight into the chicane, that left him with nothing at the end of the start-finish straight. He had no control over that deployment.
I don't like the idea of the cars autonomously delpoying energy..... it's dangerous and not F1.
I think in qualifying, Russell's car was obviously not working correctly... lot's of Rear end issues. Kimi was lucky that Russell had problems.
In the race, he monumentally screwed up the start again. Loads of wheelspin and he's lost 4-5 places. Then the safety car basically gave him the race. I think the big thing about these cars is that racing other cars is the problem. If you're out front, and you can break the energy flip-flopping, you can drive smoothly and pull a lead.
If your in a battle, then the energy store is you worse enemy..... Lando was saying that he never wanted to take Hamilton at the chicane. But because he lifted in 130r the car subsequently deployed all the energy down the next straight into the chicane, that left him with nothing at the end of the start-finish straight. He had no control over that deployment.
I don't like the idea of the cars autonomously delpoying energy..... it's dangerous and not F1.
He was always the real deal.
Toto picked him up and gave him a massive testing programme when he was barely out of karts. He got into F1 perhaps a year earlier than was the plan, when Lewis departed, but the last couple of weeks shows the investment was worth it.
He’s definitely a contender this year if the car retains its advantage, and will run the much more experienced George to the end of the season.
The rumour is that Mercedes were beaten to signing MV a decade ago, and Toto realised the need to sign young development drivers as early as possible.
Toto picked him up and gave him a massive testing programme when he was barely out of karts. He got into F1 perhaps a year earlier than was the plan, when Lewis departed, but the last couple of weeks shows the investment was worth it.
He’s definitely a contender this year if the car retains its advantage, and will run the much more experienced George to the end of the season.
The rumour is that Mercedes were beaten to signing MV a decade ago, and Toto realised the need to sign young development drivers as early as possible.
Sandpit Steve said:
The rumour is that Mercedes were beaten to signing MV a decade ago, and Toto realised the need to sign young development drivers as early as possible.
Was it not that Mercedes, had pretty much signed Max but weren't prepared to offer an F1 seat. Whilst Red Bull has the advantage of the Toro Rosso team at the time. Of course Merc not having a Crystal ball and not seeing Rosberg jumping ship, would they have changed their minds and let Max go up against Lewis rather then employ Bottas? That would have been a hell of a first season. A bit like Lewis in 2007. Ed Banger said:
Sandpit Steve said:
The rumour is that Mercedes were beaten to signing MV a decade ago, and Toto realised the need to sign young development drivers as early as possible.
Was it not that Mercedes, had pretty much signed Max but weren't prepared to offer an F1 seat. Whilst Red Bull has the advantage of the Toro Rosso team at the time. Of course Merc not having a Crystal ball and not seeing Rosberg jumping ship, would they have changed their minds and let Max go up against Lewis rather then employ Bottas? That would have been a hell of a first season. A bit like Lewis in 2007. He did one year in cars before joining F1, after winning the karting World Championship in 2013.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Verstappen
Toto couldn t have offered him a 2015 seat, having Rosberg and Hamilton already in the cars, although they did have a good relationship with Williams at the time, who fielded Massa and Bottas that year, coming 6th and 5th in the drivers championship, 3rd in the Constructors’.
STR at the time were nowhere, picking up 30 points to be 7th in 2014.
There s definitely an alternate history story there somewhere!
MontyPythonX said:
I can see this year playing out like last year.
Everyone thought Lando was going to walk it, then Oscar surprised a lot of people, but Lando's experience (plus a bit of luck) meant he won in the end.
Agreed. Think once they all settle down and get more used to the cars and the natural progression of a GP weekend settles in again rather than the erratic nature of the new regs we'll see the more experienced drivers start to pick up again. Everyone thought Lando was going to walk it, then Oscar surprised a lot of people, but Lando's experience (plus a bit of luck) meant he won in the end.
No reason Antonelli can't go all the way but I'd expect it to swing back to Russell by the midpoint of the season.
I think it's too early.
Mercedes seem to rate him very highly.
But I think back to his first FP1 session in Monza 2024 (when he binned Russell's car)
And the fact that for the whole of last year, he looked a bit......ordinary.
Yes, he was young, blah, blah, blah. But the greats just get in and immediately excel - Hamilton, Verstappen, Senna, Schumacher.
He's done well this year, but the car's clearly a rocket ship and Russell was unlucky with the Safety Car in Japan.
Need a few more races for a reasonable assessment IMO.
Mercedes seem to rate him very highly.
But I think back to his first FP1 session in Monza 2024 (when he binned Russell's car)
And the fact that for the whole of last year, he looked a bit......ordinary.
Yes, he was young, blah, blah, blah. But the greats just get in and immediately excel - Hamilton, Verstappen, Senna, Schumacher.
He's done well this year, but the car's clearly a rocket ship and Russell was unlucky with the Safety Car in Japan.
Need a few more races for a reasonable assessment IMO.
Muzzer79 said:
Yes, he was young, blah, blah, blah. But the greats just get in and immediately excel - Hamilton, Verstappen, Senna, Schumacher.
Max started off as raw and he was a bit lairy, crashed a few times - reminded me of Gilles Villeneuve and Stefan Bellof at times in terms of pushing the limits and not fearing consequences - and there was the Max rule of not chopping in front of the driver behind them. Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff