Mercedes thinks the story of its new world champion is already outgrowing Formula 1.
Speaking to City AM, deputy team principal Bradley Lord reached straight for the Rossi comparison when asked about Antonelli’s reach in his home market.
“If we look at MotoGP, for example, and the following with the success Valentino Rossi was able to hold on to; we can see that the Italian nation is more than able to take a hero to its heart and from there propel them into global standing,” he told City AM.
Rossi, 47 and retired from racing since 2021, remains Italy’s most recognizable modern sports figure, a nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle world champion with seven premier-class titles in 500cc and MotoGP.
Read also: Arsenal eye £100m Premier League star Thierry Henry praised six months ago
Antonelli sealed the drivers’ championship with third place at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday, 1 November, at 20 years and 68 days. The previous youngest champion, Sebastian Vettel, was 23 years and 134 days when he claimed his first title with Red Bull in 2010.
Italy had been waiting since Alberto Ascari lifted the title in 1953, the second of back-to-back championships for the Ferrari driver. Before him, Giuseppe Farina won the sport’s inaugural crown in 1950. Antonelli is only the third Italian ever to be world champion.
‘Unprecedented in the history of the sport’
Lord, who was promoted to Toto Wolff’s deputy in March, told City AM that Antonelli has not just broken the age record but shifted it by years rather than months. He called the Mercedes driver’s rise “unprecedented in the history of the sport” and said Italy was only now beginning to grasp the scale of what the team has on its hands.
Rossi had already called him ‘special’
Rossi himself had sketched out something similar back in July, in a Sky Sports F1 interview recorded before the Belgian Grand Prix.
Read also: Why Leclerc received half the standard penalty in Mexico
“I am with Kimi now. He is a great talent, he has a lot of speed and, in Italy, we never had a Formula 1 driver who can win the championship in the last 70 years, so this is very special,” Rossi told Sky Sports F1.
He admitted the endorsement cut against the grain of Italian sporting culture, where Ferrari usually comes first.
“You can imagine in Italy, with Ferrari, it is like a religion you know. But I am more a driver fan,” Rossi told Sky Sports F1.
The season continues in São Paulo, the next round after Mexico City.
Read also: Vinicius Junior faces uncomfortable Real Madrid verdict: “There is no doubt about it”
Read also: FIA makes surprising Lewis Hamilton admission after Ferrari teammate clash
