Antonelli gets relief to the Max

Kimi Antonelli looks set to become the youngest Formula 1 in the sport’s long history thanks to the recent brilliance of rival Max Verstappen.

Antonelli admits he is relieved that Verstappen is not a championship rival despite the Red Bull driver winning the last two Formula 1 races.

The 20-year-old Italian is set to break Sebastian Vettel’s record of being the youngest F1 world champion and has six races to get over the line.

Verstappen scored maximum points across the Sprint weekend in Singapore to add to his victory earlier this month in Malaysia but, unlike last year, is too far back to make a championship charge.

In fact, Antonelli could wrap up the title at the next race in Austin on October 23-25, if he outscores Mercedes team-mate George Russell by 23 points and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton by 14 points.

Antonelli had another damage limitation weekend in Singapore but still finished on the podium in third after a good strategy call by Mercedes to give him fresh soft tyres to overtake McLaren’s Lando Norris and Hamilton late on in Sunday’s race.

It was an unexpected result given the new upgrades, which Mercedes introduced in Malaysia, were not giving the major performance gain the team expected.

“It would be very scary!” Antonelli told Sky Sports F1 when asked if he is glad Verstappen is not in this year’s championship battle.

“All in all I feel like we are doing a great job. At the end, you look at the season, and we have always been there.

“Now we go to Austin, a normal weekend, where we can hopefully do a lot of changes and understand the package more.”