Mercedes F1 driver Kimi Antonelli became the first Italian driver to claim a World Drivers’ Championship since the legendary Alberto Ascari won his second in 1953.
It was an incredible run that, it turns out, started with some wisdom from another Italian F1 great, Riccardo Patrese.
Patrese competed in F1 from 1977 to 1993, driving for numerous teams like Benetton and Williams, and won six Grand Prix, including the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix while with Brabham.
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“Kimi is a very good friend of my family, and we are friends of Kimi’s family as well. So we’ve known each other very well for a long time,” Patrese told OutKick over Zoom, promoting Jackpot City Casino. “So in the end, to see Kimi be world champion is a fantastic feeling because, for me, it’s like [having] another son.”
That relationship, coupled with his own 256 Grand Prix starts, made Patrese a perfect person to offer some advice to the young Italian.
Advice which centered on the fact that Mercedes came into the year with the best car on the grid.
“I said to him, ‘Look, Kimi, you have to be really world champion this year because it’s an important [year],’” Patrese recalled. “Because at the beginning of the season, Mercedes was the best car, the strongest car, and of course … you never know if next year it can be the same.”
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Antonelli at least seemed to have taken that to heart because he made the most of Mercedes’ early dominance, including a run of five straight wins through the spring.
That gave the 20-year-old enough of a points cushion when other teams started to catch up in the development race as the season progressed, and he clinched the title earlier this month in Mexico City.
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It’s a historic win given Antonelli’s age, but also because of what it means for Italian motorsport.
Before Antonelli’s title, the closest any Italian driver had come was P2, and that was Patrese himself in 1992.
Patrese said that Antonelli’s win is already inspiring the next wave of Italian drivers.
“We have other young talented drivers in Italy, but now that Kimi is world champion, it automatically [gives] enthusiasm, and motorsport in Italy is growing. It also happened with [Jannik] Sinner, a tennis player, [when he] became number one. Now everybody wants to play tennis, and let’s hope that now everyone wants to be a racing driver.”