Sebastian Vettel’s former teammate says Kimi Antonelli is now showcasing the German’s ‘best quality’

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Vitantonio Liuzzi, a former teammate of the four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, has revealed how he has seen signs of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli emulating the legend’s ‘best quality’ as a racing driver.

While the 2026 F1 world championship is still in its infancy at the moment, it’s clear that Kimi Antonelli is on course for a breakthrough season that could result in his name being etched in history as a world champion.

The 19-year-old currently leads the F1 standings by nine points, with his more senior Mercedes teammate, George Russell, applying pressure in second place.

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After a fairly difficult first two-thirds of his rookie season last year, it became apparent that Antonelli was finally finding his feet in the pinnacle of single-seater racing as he managed to get the better of Russell on several occasions.

With an extra winter with his head down, the youngster now looks like a completely new driver, showing shades of someone who has been in the sport for a lot longer than just 12 months.

• READ MORE: Jenson Button shares how George Russell feels amid Kimi Antonelli title fight after private meeting

Vitantonio Liuzzi compares Kimi Antonelli with former teammate Sebastian Vettel

During an appearance on the Chiacchiere da Box podcast with F1 expert Davide Valsecchi and former MotoGP star Marco Melandri, Vitantonio Liuzzi gave his thoughts on the current championship leader.

The Italian spent six seasons as an F1 driver, and was partnered up against Sebastian Vettel at Toro Rosso during the back-end of the 2007 season – the four-time world champion’s rookie campaign.

In his assessment of Antonelli, Liuzzi highlighted how he has seen signs of the Mercedes star emulating Vettel’s ‘best quality’ in F1. “Vettel was my team-mate, and he was absolutely brilliant,” he started.

How can Toto Wolff avoid a Hamilton-Rosberg situation with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell this season?

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“Not only in team radio and in communicating with the team, but he was a real motivator within the squad and managed to get everyone on his side. I must say, it was his best quality, and I see some of that in Andrea, too.

“He’s only 19 and shows incredible maturity for what he’s doing. It bodes well. Now we must hope for Mercedes; obviously, we all continue to hope for Ferrari, for a Ferrari comeback.

“But for our own Antonelli, we must obviously keep a bit of support for Mercedes too, as they continue to push until the end of the year, and see what happens from the midway point of the championship onwards, when everyone starts making developments.”

READ MORE: The FIA’s 2026 rules changes for Miami Grand Prix have just fixed Kimi Antonelli’s biggest weakness

Kimi Antonelli has benefited from working with Peter Bonnington at Mercedes

Of course, much of Antonelli’s development over the last 12 months can be attributed to working with his race engineer at Brackley, Peter Bonnington.

Having previously served as the right-hand man to Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton, ‘Bono’ has quite literally worked with two of the best drivers that F1 has ever seen.

In fact, following the young Italian’s maiden victory in Shanghai earlier this year, Bonnington detailed how Antonelli has unlocked the same ‘extra tenth’ that made Schumacher and Hamilton so formidable during their successful periods.

Antonelli’s relationship with the British engineer appears to be strengthening with every passing race weekend, which suggests that they may have only scratched the surface on what they can achieve together at Mercedes in the future.