The number nobody in the garage wants to trust
Eighty-one points. That is the gap between Kimi Antonelli and his own team-mate George Russell after the Spanish Grand Prix, the largest lead the Italian has held all season. Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris sit third and fourth, both more than a hundred points adrift. Nine rounds remain on the calendar.
Toto Wolff is not treating any of it as settled. The Mercedes boss reached for a phrase that has nothing to do with lap times.
“There are black swan events, they can come and you’re losing something out of your hand when you didn’t think it was possible to lose,” Wolff said.
Back-to-back wins at Monza and at the new Madrid circuit built the cushion. Antonelli has taken the lead of the championship since round three in Japan on March 29 and never surrendered it. His eight victories this year are six more than any other driver has managed.
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A 20-year-old who says he is not counting
Antonelli keeps repeating that the title is not on his mind. Wolff says he believes him, which is a strange thing for a team principal to have to confirm out loud.
“I promise you he’s not thinking about it,” Wolff said. “The way this kid is able to compartmentalise and be the young kid and then get into the car and be the mature racing driver. That’s why if Kimi says to himself, ‘I’m not thinking about the championship,’ he’s not thinking about the championship. And we are also trying, the parents and myself and the team, saying this is not finished.”
The driver’s own version, delivered after the Madrid win, ran along the same line. “Yes, it is great, but we’ve just got to keep pushing, keep delivering the results and just trying to do the best job I can whenever I go on track,” Antonelli said. “Because, of course, yes, I have a big lead, but you never know what can happen.”
Who keeps him grounded
He credits the people around him, and one in particular. “Especially my dad is the one that keeps me on the ground,” Antonelli said of his father Marco.
Next comes Baku, where the Azerbaijan Grand Prix runs from September 24 to 26 with the race itself moved to a Saturday. It opens a triple-header. Three weekends in a row is exactly the stretch where a black swan finds room to land.
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