Kimi Antonelli has been hailed as a generational expertise in System 1; the driving force who can finish the 73-year await an Italian world champion.
In March, Antonelli grew to become the youngest-ever championship chief when he sealed victory in Japan at 19 years, seven months and 4 days.
And he has stayed there ever since.
This weekend, Antonelli arrives on the Italian Grand Prix with a 59-point benefit on the high of the standings after profitable six races thus far this yr.
There is only one small situation: the younger star drives for Mercedes, not Italy's beloved Ferrari.
"Ferrari is my coronary heart," says Thomas, who’s Monza born and bred, to BBC Sport on the circuit on Friday.
"It's a faith," says Emanuele, who’s on the grand prix together with his daughter, Matilde. "In Italy, we do help different groups and different sports activities, however there is just one Ferrari."
Ferrari isSystem 1 in Italy; natives joke that the place of Scuderia crew principal is simply as vital because the id of the Pope.
So, with followers flocking to worship on the Temple of Velocity, simply how doItalians really feel about Antonelli battling Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for race wins and the drivers' championship?
When a Ferrari driver triumphs in F1, the crew's religious dwelling of Maranello rejoices.
"It's just like the second coming successfully; everybody's within the streets singing, dancing, church bells are ringing. It's a celebration within the streets," says Adrian Hussain, who’s a member of the Scuderia Ferrari Membership Silverstone and half-Italian.
These well-known bells final rung out in honour of a Ferrari world champion in 2007, when Finn Kimi Raikkonen received his solely title by a single level.
Italy has not produced a world champion driver since Alberto Ascari claimed back-to-back titles for Ferrari in 1952 and 1953. For many Italians, seeing a title winner draped in il Tricolore – for any crew on the grid – has been a dream reasonably than a actuality.
However Antonelli's ascendancy this yr has opened the door for Italy to embrace a brand new hero – even when he does drive for the direct competitors.
"Antonelli is disrupting the normal guidelines of fandom in Italy," Giulia Toninelli, a journalist for La Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy's most generally learn sports activities newspaper, tells BBC Sport.
Toninelli says Antonelli's "robust character" has received over the Italian public, particularly the youthful fanbase. "And the truth that he’s racing for Mercedes issues little or no to them."
Within the fanzone at Monza, a family is split. Whereas Alessandro is decked out in Ferrari crimson, his girlfriend, Emma, is sporting the silver of Mercedes.
"After all, I’m a bit little bit of a Ferrarista as a result of I'm Italian. However actually, I like Kimi, I help him," says Emma.
If Antonelli does win this yr's world title, , about 25 miles from the place he grew up in Bologna, each Emma and Alessandro agree it could imply "Italy is again on high".
5-time MotoGP race winner Marco Melandri and 2012 GP2 sequence champion and F1 TV's Davide Valsecchi current the x (Paddock Chatter) podcast, the place the 2 ex-racers focus on and analyse every part that's occurred throughout F1 and MotoGP weekends.
"I feel Kimi resides the dream, even of the Italian followers," says Italian Melandri. "However in Italy, lots of people are very near Ferrari, they’re pushing for Ferrari. So generally they’re combating themselves to know, to decide on who’s their favorite driver. However I feel Kimi is doing one thing wonderful."
Compatriot Valsecchi feels the identical: "We’re loving it. It's a giant shock for everybody, understanding that an Italian driver, so younger, is main the championship, is driving so properly, and is mentally so robust. So, for the time being, every part is ideal for us."
'Generally in Italy, we lack a little bit of endurance'
Antonelli has been a Mercedes protege since he was 11 years outdated.
After only one season in System 2, Silver Arrows crew principal Toto Wolff fast-tracked him into the seat vacated by seven-time world champion Hamilton in 2025, after the Briton left to affix Ferrari in a blockbuster transfer.
Antonelli's introduction to F1 final yr was a steep studying curve, and after a bruising European leg of the seasonthat featured 4 retirements and solely three factors, he completed his debut marketing campaign seventh within the championship.
Mercedes have made positive to place an arm round Antonelli each time there was a mishap. When the then 18-year-old crashed throughout his very first follow session in Monza two years in the past, Wolff was straight on the crew radio with 5 soothing phrases: "All good, Kimi. All good."
"I feel Kimi is in the correct place for the time being," says Toninelli. "Mercedes is a household he has identified for a very long time, one which has nurtured him as a driver and given him a degree of safety that might be not possible for him to have at Ferrari proper now."
Being separated from the generally "excessive" Italian fanbase can solely work in Antonelli's favour, believes Valsecchi.
"Generally in Italy, we lack a little bit of endurance," he says. "We simply push for you when you’re robust after which underline with crimson pen each time as quickly as you make little errors.
"For that reason, as a rookie, it’s higher to be away and to be on one other aspect, after which come to Ferrari solely when you’re a giant man with already a championship and an entire driver."
Do followers 'dream' of Antonelli at Ferrari?
If Antonelli does clinch his maiden title this yr, he’ll surpass four-time winner Sebastian Vettel because the youngest driver in System 1 historical past to turn into world champion.
German Vettel was 23 years and 134 days outdated when he claimed his first title in 2010. Antonelli could be three years youthful.
If that occurs, Daniele, who’s having fun with Monza together with his two sons, Tommaso and Demis, says they’ll really feel "so-so" about Antonelli's victory.
"We help Hamilton and Leclerc – we help Ferrari," says Daniele emphatically, though youngest son Demis, whereas nonetheless loyal to the Scuderia, is an Antonelli fan, whispering the Mercedes driver is "actually good".
"I'm completely happy for Kimi, in fact. However I'm not supporting him like Ferrari, as a result of Ferrari is up there," Thomas provides, gesturing excessive into the air.
Antonelli has already rewritten the historical past books this season, turning into the youngest driver to take pole place, changing it into his first victory in China in March, earlier than turning into the youngest driver to win the celebrated Monaco Grand Prix.
An engine-related retirement in Barcelona and a Fifteenth-placed end at Silverstone have been the one actual blips of Antonelli's marketing campaign, up till Monza's grid penalty on account of taking a brand new energy unit, which suggests he’ll begin on the again in Sunday's race.
Whereas his title lead has ebbed and flowed in current races, a victory in Belgium, plus podiums in Hungary and Zandvoort, has given Antonelli an honest buffer to Mercedes team-mate George Russell and Hamilton, who’re each degree on 183 factors.
"It could be very good to have an Italian driver in Italian colors profitable races and championships," says Hussain. "Everyone inside the membership, actually in our group chats, everybody's supportive of Kimi profitable races. There's no animosity in the direction of him."
Melandri, too, thinks Antonelli driving the crimson automotive might occur someplace alongside the road. "It ought to be a dream to see Antonelli get a victory in Ferrari sooner or later. That's for positive," he provides.
A consequence to convey each fanbases collectively?
On the drivers' information convention on the Belgian Grand Prix in July, after Antonelli had been hanging out with tennis' five-time Grand Slam champion and compatriot Jannik Sinner, BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson requested Antonelli who, out of the 2 of them, is extra well-known in Italy.
His light-hearted reply was fast. "It's Charles," he stated, pointing to Ferrari's Leclerc sat subsequent to him. "He's most likely essentially the most well-known man in Italy proper now."
Monegasque Leclerc has turn into the surrogate son of the Scuderia since his arrival in 2019, carrying the hopes of the tifosi on his shoulders for the previous eight seasons.
Fluent in Italian and deeply embedded in Ferrari's tradition, the 28-year-old, who has received twice at Monza, signed a brand new long-term cope with the crew in June, and has stated his need to be the driving force that delivers success again to Maranello is what fuels his title ambitions.
However with simply 9 wins for the crew in 162 grands prix, doubts as as to whether Leclerc is actually the chosen one for Ferrari may be beginning to creep in.
"I begin to see, after a few years, for the primary time, some followers begin to say, possibly he's not as robust as we expect earlier than, as a result of Hamilton is doing higher than him, and Antonelli is doing significantly better with one other automotive," says Melandri.
With Antonelli hamstrung by his grid drop this weekend, Ferrari have a head begin on their rival. If he does handle to recuperate and end within the high three, would a Scuderia one-two accompanied by some Antonelli magic be the best race consequence?
"After all, sharing the rostrum with a Ferrari would make it much more particular, however no matter that, he can have the complete help of his followers," says Toninelli.
"A part of the Italian viewers might certainly favour Ferrari over Kimi, whereas one other part might really feel the alternative, however that received't cease the Italian celebration at Monza, which can convey each fanbases collectively."
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