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Mercedes star Kimi Antonelli has been compared to Max Verstappen after his latest victory at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Antonelli repeatedly exchanged places with teammate George Russell in an enthralling battle before the British driver retired on lap 30 due to a power unit failure.
From there, he was able to see out the victory comfortably, eventually beating Lewis Hamilton by 10.7 seconds. He was already the first driver to win his first three Grands Prix consecutively and has now made it four on the bounce.
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After gaining 25 points on Russell, Antonelli is now 43 clear at the top. Unless his teammate mounts one of the biggest comebacks in recent history, he will become the youngest world champion ever.
“George knows what goes around, comes around, but 43 points… but that’s sort of heading towards two Grand Prix victories,” Martin Brundle said on Sky Sports after the race. “There’s a very, very long way to go.”
Antonelli became the second-youngest race winner in F1 history when he stood on the top step at the Chinese GP in March, but it still took him nine months longer than Verstappen.
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However, Verstappen didn’t win a title until he was 24, and Antonelli could yet blitz Sebastian Vettel’s all-time record (23 years, 134 days).
The Italian set the fastest lap of the race right at the end of the Canadian GP, which could be read as sending a message that he had pace in reserve.
“Antonelli did the fastest lap of the Grand Prix on the final tour,” Brundle observed. “That’s a bit Verstappen-esque, isn’t it?”
Ralf Schumacher also compares Kimi Antonelli to Max Verstappen
Sky Germany pundit Ralf Schumacher says Antonelli ‘forced’ Russell into making mistakes during their battle. Both drivers slipped up while leading and handed the place to the sister car.
For Schumacher, what matters is that he learned from his errors and appeared to be faster than Russell in race trim despite losing out in qualifying.
He thinks Antonelli could eventually dominate F1 in the manner of Verstappen, a four-time world champion.
“It was an epic duel,” said Schumacher. “But you also have to say: Kimi handled it with extreme composure. He really forced George into mistakes time and time again.
“Of course, he made one himself, but clearly: he was the faster man. You have to admire that to have such control of the situation at such a young age and to learn from your mistakes.
“If he continues like this, we really have a successor there, perhaps even to Max Verstappen someday.”
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