Is 'disruptor' Antonelli winning hearts in Italy, where Ferrari is F1? — SkimNews
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- Kimi Antonelli leads the 2025 F1 championship by 59 points with six wins heading into the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, having become the youngest-ever championship leader at 19 years, 7 months and 4 days after his Japan victory
- Despite driving for Mercedes rather than Ferrari, Antonelli is 'disrupting the traditional rules of fandom in Italy,' according to La Gazzetta dello Sport's Giulia Toninelli, whose reporting says his 'strong personality' has won over younger Italian fans regardless of team
- Antonelli will start from the back of the grid at Monza due to a penalty for taking a new power unit, undermining his chance to triumph at Ferrari's home race this weekend
- If Antonelli clinches the title, he would surpass Sebastian Vettel as F1's youngest world champion — Vettel was 23 years and 134 days old when he won in 2010, and Antonelli would be roughly three years younger
- Italy has not produced an F1 world champion since Alberto Ascari's back-to-back Ferrari titles in 1952 and 1953, while the last Ferrari drivers' champion was Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 — a 73-year national drought
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari's 'surrogate son' since 2019 and a two-time Monza winner, has claimed just nine victories in 162 grands prix, and ex-racer Marco Melandri says some Italian fans are beginning to question whether he can ever deliver a title to Maranello
- The season finale may be held at Imola, about 25 miles from where Antonelli grew up in Bologna — a potential fairytale setting to end Italy's championship wait
Why it matters: Antonelli's Mercedes seat, per ex-racer Davide Valsecchi, has shielded him from Italy's 'impatient' tifosi — a protection Ferrari could not have offered. With Italy without a world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953 and the finale possibly at his native Bologna, a championship would end a 72-year national drought. But Antonelli starts from the back at Monza due to a power-unit grid penalty, complicating his bid to conquer Ferrari's home race.
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