By Darian Lee Crowley
Kimi Antonelli has become the third youngest podium finisher behind Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll. What records could he break?
If Antonelli wins a race by 2027, he’ll become the second youngest winner after Verstappen, and a pole by 2027 will see him break the record for the youngest pole sitter.
He has already become the fourth youngest F1 driver ever and the youngest pole sitter for a sprint race.
Lando replaced for Austria Session
However, there is one record that Antonelli is dreaming of. Antonelli aspires to become the youngest world champion ever.
Antonelli is in an unusual position of being in a front-running car at such a young age, a luxury only shared by Max Verstappen.
While Verstappen was able to win races in his early years at Red Bull, their engine problems with Renault denied him being a serious challenger to Mercedes before the switch to Honda.
Antonelli has a much better chance. Next year’s engine-focused regulation changes will provide an advantage to works teams.
Mercedes have been the pace setters for engines for quite a while now in F1, and if that continues, they are the favourites.
If another era of Mercedes dominance is about to dawn on the sport again, Antonelli has until 2029 to break Sebastian Vettel’s record of youngest world champion at 23.
Even if Mercedes has the fastest car, the biggest problem for Antonelli will be beating a more experienced teammate.
It looks likely that it will be either George Russell or Max Verstappen. If he can beat either of those two at a young age, he would deserve the title of youngest F1 champion.
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