Antonelli Wins Miami Grand Prix for Third Straight Victory, Earns Praise from Damon Hill

Kimi Antonelli won the Miami Grand Prix for his third victory in a row, a performance 1996 world champion Damon Hill called "something special."

"We witnessed this young boy showing us what enormous potential he clearly has, and I'm almost stunned with how he has coped this season," Hill told BBC Radio 5 Live. Hill added that the 19-year-old Antonelli is outshining teammate George Russell, who entered the season as favorite but now trails by 20 points in the championship after four races.

Antonelli's win added to his statistical milestones as an Italian driver. The youngest pole winner and youngest to lead the championship, he became only the third driver in history to claim his first three pole positions consecutively, joining Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. He also joined Hill and Mika Hakkinen as the first to win his initial three races in a row. All four of those drivers later became world champions, with two in the greatest-of-all-time debate.

This marks Antonelli's second Formula 1 season. His rookie year offered flashes of promise but no hint of this dominance. Mercedes fields the best car, and Russell suffered setbacks in the Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix that he might have won. Still, Antonelli has elevated his game dramatically.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff spotted Antonelli's talent in karting at age 11 and has mentored him since. Wolff placed the rookie into Formula 1 after two years as Lewis Hamilton's replacement, despite criticism that it was premature. "When you look throughout his trajectory, in karting and in the junior formulas, he was just outstanding," Wolff said. "And when you think about what we said last year, it's exactly how he's performed and how he's developed now."

Wolff noted Antonelli's ability to handle pressure. "We had great ups and moments of brilliance and then moments where he was allowed to make mistakes. We needed to calibrate and continue to mentor him while having pressure on him. But he just takes it so well and he's able to analyse it but not overthink it. He compartmentalises it. 'OK, I made a mistake. I put it away.'"

Wolff called the Miami race Antonelli's best yet. "It's easier to calm someone down that is wild. Because you won't be able to accelerate a donkey. So, for me, that was his best race so far. And it reminds me of the karting days or Formula 4. But nevertheless, we just really need to stay calm here because such a success for such a young man at that stage, all of Italy will be on him."

Russell, a Mercedes protege who waited eight years for this top-car chance, dominated last year and started as favorite. The 28-year-old Briton won the Australian opener from pole but faltered since. A technical issue likely cost him pole in China, where Antonelli converted to his first win. A safety car handed Japan to Antonelli, when Piastri or Russell might have prevailed otherwise.

Antonelli took pole in Miami. Russell qualified fifth behind upgraded Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari cars. Antonelli botched his sixth straight start but recovered to beat McLaren's Lando Norris via pit strategy. Norris blamed a McLaren error in pitting three laps later amid rain threats. Team principal Andrea Stella said they had margin to stay ahead, but Antonelli gained on a fast first lap out of pits, Norris erred on his in-lap, and the stop was slow. Antonelli passed immediately and held off Norris.

Russell stayed philosophical with 18 races left. "Clearly he's in a very good place at the moment and momentum is with him," he said. "But, having got enough experience myself in championships I've won and how momentum swings throughout the year, and looking at the championship last year, to be honest, I'm not even considering it. It's just that I want to get back on to the top step of the podium."

He cited poor pace on Miami's low-grip surface and slow corners. Hill responded: "You can't have that, you can't have a track that you don't gel with. You've got to be good across everything. George now has to regroup, has to look at where he is at and what the new paradigm is."

Wolff credited Antonelli's father Marco for keeping him grounded. "The risk is that he's being carried away too quickly," Wolff said. "And we know that the parents are going to keep him grounded. Right, Marco?" Antonelli Sr replied: "Right."

Wolff added: "The easier bit is making sure that he keeps both feet on the ground here in the team. His parents have played a big part in that, to leave him grounded. The bigger problem is the Italian public. You know, now that they are not qualified for football (in the World Cup), it's all about (tennis number one Jannik) Sinner and Antonelli. Sinner won in Madrid. So it's the two that are superstars. There's so much request, so much time from the media, from sponsors. And it's on us to keep the handbrake on that."

Wolff stressed the long view. "He has a killer of a team-mate that is extremely fast. The others are catching up in performance. And we want to play the long game. He can hopefully win many championships over 10 years, 15 years, and we don't want to stumble now with these huge expectations that will sit on him. Because the moment he has a bad race, which will happen, where he makes a mistake, people will say, 'Oh, maybe he is not the one superstar that we thought.'"

Hill concluded: "He's now charged up. It was a worry when he had good early results because I thought it was going to be a rush of blood to the head, now he thinks he's going to be world champion. But looking at today's performance, this weekend, you have to say he has got every right to believe that."