In Antonelli, Russell may meet his match — and have F1’s new superstar

MIAMI — Mercedes is the wonderkid Kimi Antonelli continued his charge towards Formula 1 megastardom with his third straight win at the Miami Grand Prix, extending his fairytale championship lead.

The Italian teenage sensation, who turned just 19 last August, has seized control of the early stages of a championship race in only his second F1 season. To most observers, this was an unlikely scenario — many fans and pundits thought his far more experienced Mercedes teammate, the pre-season favourite, was the first season. George Russell.

Russell even reinforced that feeling by winning the opening race of 2026, the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, but Antonelli has now won three straight and leaves Miami with a 20-point advantage over the Englishman.

It was the first day of a championship that stretches over 22 races and ends in early December, but Antonelli’s performance on Sunday in Miami was a strong statement, holding on for the reigning world champion. Lando Norris to claim victory. It wasn’t flawless — even by his own admission — and he clearly still has a lot of work to do when it comes to his debut, but Antonelli was error-free when it counted and Mercedes predicted he would carry over from his phenomenal karting and junior career to Formula 1.

It was a freak race, as it turned out — three hours ahead of schedule for a thunderstorm that never came. Whatever your view of F1’s much-debated new car and new form of yo-yo racing, Antonelli has seamlessly navigated his own battle for position — especially as he’s crashed off the line at every start this year.

“The start was still not great, plus I made a mistake, then I was lucky how the game played despite the mistake,” said Antonelli. “And then, yeah, then obviously we were in the fight, me, Charles and Lando, and then I passed Lando, made a little mistake in power, and then I was chasing. And then luckily the undercut worked very well, and then we were chasing ourselves. But it wasn’t easy because Lando was fast and he was applying a lot of pressure and I could apply any pressure. That).”

Asked if he would be in such a position early in his career, Antonelli said: “No, I didn’t expect it. And yes, I mean, obviously we’re having such a good moment. It’s still a long season and a lot can change. George is definitely going to be very strong in Canada; he’s always been very strong, so he can go back to the top.”

Across the Mercedes garage, the pressure is mounting on Russell. He has finished fourth in his last three races — the Japanese Grand Prix, the Sprint of Miami and the Grand Prix of Miami — and the Canadian Grand Prix at the end of the month already looks to be a pivotal moment in his season. Although he may have reason to be concerned, he put on a brave face after Sunday’s race.

“No, not at all,” Russell said, wondering if he somehow underestimated Antonelli. “He’s a fantastic driver. He’s been phenomenally fast since day one. You can’t win all the championships as a youngster if you don’t have speed. But I’ve still got confidence in myself, and I’ve got there, I haven’t forgotten how to drive. It’s a little bit of a tricky race, and we’ve come a long way in four races. Assess things over the next few weeks.”

---

Three in a row: Can Antonelli be stopped?

Antonelli’s current run is truly something special. The Italian put himself in legendary company across the two days of the weekend. On Saturday, he took the pole, meaning the first three Grand Prix pole positions of his career have come in three consecutive races. Only other drivers have achieved that Ayrton Army And Michael Schumacher. Then, on Sunday, he won, making his first three career wins come in three consecutive races. Only other drivers achieve that Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen.

Of these four, two claim to be the sport’s greatest drivers of all time, while the other two were reigning world champions. Comparisons to the past are more impressive. Of the 23 drivers who have ever claimed three consecutive race wins, 20 have gone on to become world champions. Incredible stuff for someone who wouldn’t legally be able to buy a beer to toast his recent victory in the United States.

When this factoid was put to him, he answered it like you might expect a 19-year-old to. “It’s a great status, but I don’t want to think too much about it,” he said Sunday afternoon. “I’m just going to enjoy the moment, but I know at the same time that we’re just going to work early because obviously we have another break, let’s say, which is not ideal.

“But yeah, going to try to prepare the best possible way to make Canada stronger. But yeah, that’s great, I guess.”

Antonelli is the epitome of cool right now. He talks and races with someone who is just oozing with confidence. His recent run is a far cry from that of Rocky Antonelli, who struggled for much of 2025. The contrast in performance between the inconsistent Antonelli and Russell, who has been one of the strongest drivers throughout the season, has only reinforced the pre-season narrative that the latter will comfortably pull away this year.

Indeed, Antonelli’s up-and-down season has been so alarming in points that it wasn’t hard to find people in the paddock who felt as though Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had brilliantly fooled a teenage driver with a car. Lewis Hamilton When the sport’s most accomplished driver leaves for Ferrari. Wolff’s philosophy on the sometimes erratic Antonelli has always been the same, and he echoed it again in Miami.

“There seems to be a lot of motion all the time; everything is chipping away at the finer details,” says Wolfe. “It’s easy to slow someone down, to calm someone wild, because you won’t be able to speed up a donkey, so for me it was his best race so far. It reminds me of his karting days or Formula 4, there was no mistake today.”

Clearly, Antonelli is no donkey. Even while struggling as a rookie, his blistering speed was always there. Things seem to have clicked together this season — as is often the case when a driver of significant talent is finally given a top-level car. Reigning world champion Norris — who lost a battle for victory with the Mercedes driver on Sunday — pointed to Antonelli’s rookie year as he praised the Italian’s start to the season.

“He’s doing a great job, congratulations to him,” Norris said. “At that age, second year in Formula 1 – he’s doing an incredible job, it’s impressive. To perform under pressure, to beat his teammate, who’s been at it longer, he’s doing everything right, so you can’t really blame him at the moment. He’s had a lot of things last year, but he’s been very happy for him, I’ve proven him wrong. Nice guy… and he’s annoying, because I want to beat him but he’s doing well.”

Norris may be able to empathize with the situation his old friend Russell now finds himself in There are significant similarities between the start of 2026 and the start of 2025 Like Russell this year, Norris entered last season with the favorites tag and like Russell won the Australian Grand Prix. Last year he played the role of Antonelli in Mercedes Oscar Piastri At McLaren, who led the races that followed and completely reshaped the narrative. Norris would eventually overcome his teammate (and Max Verstappen for good measure) in a topsy-turvy season, but his struggles early in the year were a major talking point.

Similar attention will now be paid to Russell and how he will react to Antonelli turning the initial prophecy on its head so quickly.

Miami was especially significant because Russell had no answer to Antonelli’s speed. Asked by ESPN if he was worried about such a big margin, even this early in the season, Russell shook his head. “To be honest, I’m not considering it,” he said. “It’s just that I want to get back on the top step of the podium. I had the performance in the first three races. I didn’t have the performance to do that this weekend. So I can be standing here now with three very different results from the previous race, and then it’s just one-on-one. But obviously things worked and sometimes worked differently in China.”

Anyone who has followed the 2025 season will know that May is too early to declare a driver champion — Piastre led Norris by 34 points in September and still didn’t win the title. The Mercedes car seems strong enough to keep Antonelli and Russell winning all season, so we have to assume that Russell will find himself back in form at some point. McLaren may have been a factor, Norris’ performance throughout the weekend was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

Even if all of those things are true, Antonelli is the man of the moment, and Russell’s biggest job now is to step up his game to meet it. Miami is always going to be one of Antonelli’s strongest venues — he claimed the sprint pole there 12 months ago — but Canada is a Russell circuit, where he has always performed exceptionally well, and it looks like a key place for the Englishman to snap Antonelli’s freight train back on its tracks.

“Obviously he’s in a really great place right now, and the momentum is with him,” Russell said. “But I’ve had enough experience winning championships myself to know how the momentum swings — also, last year in the championship (battle).”