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Jolyon Palmer thinks Andrea Kimi Antonelli showed shades of four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel as he achieved his first career Grand Slam at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Antonelli set yet another record amid his fledgling Formula 1 career last week on the streets of the Principality, as he became the youngest driver in history to achieve a Grand Slam. The 19-year-old won the Monaco GP from pole by leading every lap and even set the fastest lap.
Before Antonelli, the youngest driver in F1 history to get a Grand Slam was Max Verstappen, who first achieved the feat whilst 23 years old at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Antonelli has now shattered the record by four years, as he also moved 66 points clear atop the standings.
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Jolyon Palmer likens Kimi Antonelli to Sebastian Vettel after his Monaco GP Grand Slam
Vettel also once held the record for being the youngest driver in F1 history to secure a Grand Slam from when he first achieved the feat aged 24 at the 2011 Indian Grand Prix. Vettel took a total of four Grand Slams over the course of his career – with one in 2012 and two in 2013.
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Palmer saw shades of Vettel’s 2013 title-winning campaign from Antonelli’s Monaco GP win last week, as he looked bulletproof despite the pressure he faced from Verstappen during qualifying and Lewis Hamilton during the race. Antonelli scored pole for the Monaco GP by only 0.043 seconds over Verstappen at the death, and he was never threatened in the race.
Palmer told F1’s website: “He has found a new gear and become a new man this season. I’ve seen enough of Kimi this year to recognise that his natural talent level is through the roof.
“You don’t put in a Monaco pole lap like that, deal with the pressure on Saturday and again with two race starts on Sunday and still go hunting for a fastest lap (which he took by over a second), if you aren’t blessed with talent and with it exceptional confidence.
“His Monaco weekend reminded me of Sebastian Vettel in his prime. I remember watching Sebastian roll off the wins during his final championship-winning campaign in 2013, and he wouldn’t just beat the opposition; every race was a chance to display just how good he was.
“Antonelli’s win in China was great, Japan was even better, but this one was a different display altogether.
“He could have relatively cruised around on a circuit that almost nobody completed a pass on, and not pushed more than 10 seconds clear of Hamilton. But, instead, he hammered out the gap, kept in his groove, and it actually helped to give the team some leeway when the safety car came out.
“His search for the fastest lap, as well, gives him his first Grand Chelem in F1, and that part was absolutely Vettel-esque.”
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Mercedes head of race engineering Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington regularly told Antonelli to slow down during the Monaco GP. In his role as Antonelli’s race engineer, Bonnington stated that the Italian did not need to keep setting new fastest laps to build a bigger lead over Hamilton.
Even Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff got on the radio to tell Antonelli to slow down during the Monaco GP. But Antonelli kept setting new fastest laps, as the Bologna boy was in such a great groove that he did not want to disturb his rhythm and ruin his chances.
Ultimately, Antonelli set the fastest lap in the Monaco GP with a 1:13.481. He was the only driver to record a race lap in the 1:13s, with Ferrari racer Hamilton ending the day with the next-best fastest lap at 1:14.643 as the only driver to record a lap time in the 1:14s, as well.
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