Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s restoration from a follow crash and his rise to the F1 podium on the Australian Grand Prix has sparked comparisons with Michael Schumacher.
Antonelli bounced again from a severe accident in ultimate follow to place Mercedes on the entrance row in qualifying, then began second in Melbourne to take second.
The 19-year-old Italian completed simply 2.9 seconds behind Mercedes teammate George Russell within the opening spherical of the 2026 F1 season, making a shocking comeback from a barrier-ending FP3.
Antonelli’s efficiency drew excessive reward from Martin Brundle, who mentioned the show reminded him of watching legendary seven-time world champion Schumacher.
“Mercedes had been very sturdy in winter testing and we put the ‘favorites’ tag on Melbourne, which turned out to be true. That they had nice single lap and race tempo,” Brundle wrote in his common Sky Sports activities F1 column after the race.
“Kimi Antonelli hit the wall and broke up his automobile throughout follow, however the group repaired it very effectively in time for him to lap in Q1, giving Max’s Pink Bull additional respiratory house by locking up the rear wheels and handbraking the barrier, inflicting a pink flag.”
“Kimi went tremendous quick from a crash on the following flying lap. It jogged my memory of once I noticed Michael Schumacher crash his spare Benetton at Suzuka in 1991. This weekend was primarily allotted to teammate Nelson Piquet.”
Kimi Antonelli’s damaged Mercedes W17
And Brundle backed Antonelli to problem for Russell’s world championship.
“Antonelli completed decently in second place regardless of a late begin. I’ve little doubt that he’ll preserve George on guard all through the season,” he added.
“It will be an error to resolve between the 2 sides whether or not Mercedes actually has a championship-winning automobile.”
Heading into the weekend, Antonelli expressed confidence that he had discovered from the errors he made through the rollercoaster 2025 rookie F1 season.
“The European season was undoubtedly a troublesome time for me, however I discovered quite a bit, together with about myself,” he defined to media retailers akin to Melbourne’s Crash.internet.
“These instances had been very useful, even when they weren’t enjoyable. However I discovered quite a bit. Now I do know what to keep away from to keep away from falling into the identical traps.”
2009 world champion Jenson Button was additionally impressed with Antonelli, telling Sky Sports activities F1: “There are a number of gamers like him on the grid. I might say he’s a bit like Max Verstappen in that respect. You realize, he places every part on the road each session. He’s a bit like Max Verstappen.”
“However we even have to offer him credit score, as a result of you do not know if the automobile sat correctly within the automobile after they put every part on. Often every part may be very shut.”
“However you need to make certain it is excellent and that may make little variations right here and there and make little bits of progress. So I feel it was an excellent lap from Kimi.”
