Stunned F1 fans think one star was ‘robbed’ at the Chinese Grand Prix after Kimi Antonelli was named Driver of the Day

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It was another solid day for Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli as he continued his run of scoring points in every single race of his burgeoning Formula 1 career.

A brilliant P4 finish in Australia was followed up by scoring two points in the Sprint Race at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Kimi Antonelli qualified eighth for Sunday’s race and didn’t have the easiest task ahead of him.

He lost out at the beginning of the race to Yuki Tsunoda before pitting early in the race for hard tyres.

The Italian was overtaken by Esteban Ocon in his Haas but then came home to finish P8 and score four more points for Mercedes.

Martin Brundle has already changed his mind about Antonelli after watching his first races with the team as he’s immediately converted potential into performance.

Valtteri Bottas warned Antonelli about the race in China but the fans watching the race were convinced that he was the Driver of the Day.

However, he was left surprised on the team radio when he found out and many fans reacting to the news through his fellow rookie and good friend Oliver Bearman was potentially more deserving.

READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats

Oliver Bearman ‘robbed’ after Kimi Antonelli named Chinese Grand Prix’s Driver of the Day

Reporting on the news on Sky Sports F1 (23/3 8:37 am) that Antonelli had won the vote, David Croft said: “Driver of the Day, Kimi Antonelli, picking up a lot of votes.

“Started eighth, finished eighth. It was a solid race, but I’m a bit surprised to see him pick up Driver of the Day.”

Brundle responded to hearing the result and replied: “I didn’t see that coming at all! Piastri’s done a fine job, so has Bearman,[and] Alex Albon scored some points as well.

“Nice job by Antonelli but, you know what, that’s what the fans want.”

When the news was posted on social media, there were plenty of reactions to Antonelli coming out on top with one fan saying: ‘Ocon/Bearman deserve [it] more.’

‘For what?’ was the response from another fan, while one comment read, ‘Bit weird. Thought Bearman deserved it.’

‘Must be a bug in the system,’ read another comment, while one fan explained, ‘Even as an Antonelli fan the guy was stuck behind a Haas for 30 laps and couldn’t even get within 2 seconds of it. May be a pity award after he deserved it in Australia but that shouldn’t be happening. Piastri, Russell or Ocon [are] all deserving winners. This is just stupid.’

Bearman’s credentials were explained by one fan who said, ‘Yeah, P17 to P10 in Haas after some impressive overtakes and great race form Ollie isn’t enough to beat keeping P8 in [the] second fastest car on the grid, sure…’

Two more responses were much more blunt and simply read, ‘Bearman got robbed,’ and ‘Ollie robbed. 17th to 10th in a Haas in simply lovely.’

READ MORE: Who is 2025 Haas driver Oliver Bearman? Everything to know

Kimi Antonelli’s surprised response to being named Chinese Grand Prix Driver of the Day

It’s safe to say that Antonelli agreed with many of the fans who believed Bearman was a more deserving Driver of the Day than he was.

On the team radio after the race, team principal Toto Wolff said: “Kimi, Driver of the Day, we just saw on the screen.”

Antonelli replied: “Really?” and Wolff continued: “Yeah, interesting, no?”

“Yeah, that’s weird,” he said on the radio explaining during his post-race interview, “[I was] super surprised!”

While he may not have been the standout driver, it speaks volumes that maintaining his position in the race after being placed on the slower strategy is seen as slightly underwhelming by some fans.

He still has some parts of his driving style he needs to clean up, but Antonelli has been thoroughly impressive thus far during his first two Formula 1 races.