Kimi Antonelli’s warning comes true in Free Practice 1 and FP2 at the Azerbaijan GP as his Mercedes teammate and rival for the Formula 1 title, George Russell, dominated Thursday.
The 20-year-old holds a comfortable 81-point lead in the standings at the Baku City Circuit and could be crowned the new world champion as soon as the Mexico City GP on October 26.
Considered to be a rare once-in-a-generation type talent, he has already made history as the youngest polesitter in F1 and is now the second-youngest winner behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Claiming his maiden win at the Chinese GP, the Italian has eight victories, six poles and 12 podiums – he has appeared on the podium in every single race but two, both of which he had reliability issues.
No other driver has come close to that sort of form with Russell, who is sitting second in the standings, taking two wins seven podiums and four poles in the same W17 equipment by comparison.
Now it feels inevitable that he will walk away with the title, particularly after a defining drive at the Italian GP in which he claimed the victory ahead of his teammate despite starting from 19th on the grid.
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He then followed that up with an opportunistic win at the Spanish GP to boost his odds as Mercedes correctly judged the race picture to beat McLaren, with the youngster showing mature composure behind the out-of-sequence Charles Leclerc.
However, Antonelli played down the air of destiny at the Baku City Circuit as he showed off his down-to-earth mentality once again by warning that Russell is still not out of the fight.
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“It’s not over until it’s over,” Antonelli said on Wednesday. “Until you cross that finish line, it’s not over.
“It’s like tennis, one point at a time, here one race at a time. Keep giving your best and keep trying to raise that bar, keep delivering results and see where we end up at the end of the year.
“As we’re getting closer, I’ve thought about the championship and stuff, but by thinking about it I’ve always come to the final conclusion that I need to keep driving like I am and delivering the results.
“The sooner it’s over, the better it is. Still a long way and it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be intense but I’m ready to give my best and to keep having fun.”
Antonelli’s warning comes true in Free Practice at Azerbaijan GP
Antonelli‘s warning that the title fight was “not over until it’s over” received an immediate demonstration in FP1 at the Azerbaijan GP as he had his session disrupted by a reliability problem.
Although he had actually looked strong before the problem struck, briefly topping the timesheets on the hard tyres he was forced to pull over at Turn 7 after reporting a hydraulic issue.
He completed only nine laps, losing valuable running while Mercedes investigated the failure and the problem handed George Russell an opportunity to establish himself as the clear benchmark.
Russell went on to top FP1 with a 1:45.387, four tenths clear of anyone else. Antonelli‘s difficulties continued into FP2, with Mercedes opting to change his power unit as a precaution after the hydraulic failure.
That kept him in the garage for part of the session, further limiting his preparation around Baku‘s demanding street circuit whilst Russell made the most of his uninterrupted running.
The 28-year-old also topped FP2 as well, setting a 1:43.347 to finish 0.552 seconds ahead of Antonelli, who recovered to second despite his compromised day as Thursday how quickly circumstances can change when reliability intervenes.
Had the hydraulics problem appeared in Q1 in Qualifying on Friday or in the Grand Prix on Saturday then the Bologna-born driver may have been staring at a 22nd-place start or a DNF.
And with Russell’s form in mind and no clear challengers in sight, that could have easily seen the 81-point lead cut down to 56 points with Antonelli expected to serve a grid drop penalty in the future too.
