Despite five successive victories, world championship leader, Kimi Antonelli has both feet planted firmly on the ground.

Week after week the Italian teenager impresses, and in many ways Monaco was his best yet.

Though the challenge from Max Verstappen ended after just a few yards, the youngster soon pulled away at the start, leaving seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton for dust.

A restart behind the Safety Car, a standing start following the red flag, Antonelli took it all in his stride, and as he romped home to become the youngest ever winner on the streets of the Principality, Ayrton Senna, Graham Hill, Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio will surely have watched on with approval.

Speaking at the post-race press conference, even Lewis Hamilton found it hard to take in the fact that the championship leader is just 19, such is his speed, his talent, his determination. Whatever they threw at him on Sunday, he took it.

However, watched on by his adoring father, Kimi is taking nothing for granted, perhaps appreciating, as advised by his teammate, that the title is his to lose.

"It's been an incredible weekend, an incredible race," he beamed. "It was one of those days where we had incredible pace and it was just coming all so naturally.

"The car was feeling incredible and it was just giving me the confidence to push, so it was a very enjoyable day," he added.

However, despite a 66 point advantage over his nearest challenger, Hamilton, the teenager is not resting on his laurels.

"The job's not finished," he said, "it's still a long season and we've got to keep pushing, keep raising the bar, and the goal is to keep performing like this.

"The team have done an incredible job, they've given us an incredible car, and I've got so much support from the team as well, and from my family. It's a really good moment so far."

Referring to the restart, which saw him line-up alongside Hamilton, he admitted: "To be fair, I wasn't super keen on restarting. But then once the notification came out, I just gathered my emotions, my thoughts and I started to focus again, looked at some data and so on and just tried to refocus on restarting and then trying to get the tyres in the right temperature.

"Once I got away, I knew I was going to make it into P1 in the first corner, and from that point on I just enjoyed the last few laps."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Monaco here.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by dejan, 4 minutes ago

"Actually one of the DNFs was earlier - the bizarre DNF was in China when Hamilton crashed entering the pit lane and got stuck in the gravel"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by dejan, 10 minutes ago

"66 points are two DNFs and a bad race so he's right to not feel completely secure but it's a comfortable lead - I'm not sure if someone has overcome such a difference recently.

The closest comparable instance that comes to my mind is Hamilton's first season when Räikkönen won the title with Hamilton having 26 point advantage after 7 rounds and in the end losing the title by a single point. Included two bizarre DNFs for Hamilton in the two rounds before Brazil and not team orders in Brazil (they were illegal then) for Räikkönen to win."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

"The job's not finished," admits Antonelli

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page