Kimi Antonelli, the newly crowned world drivers’ champion, isn’t resting on his laurels, not even for a second. The 20-year-old prodigy just admitted he’s still hitting the books, poring over teammate George Russell’s data to crack the code on one massive advantage Russell still holds: qualifying pace. This guy won the ultimate prize in 2026, yet he’s still trying to steal a weapon from the other side of the garage. That tells you everything about his drive.
Mr. Saturday’s Undeniable Edge
Let’s be real, George Russell had an incredibly tough 2026 campaign. We saw it, it was brutal. Bad luck seemed to find his car like a magnet, and he spent a huge chunk of the season watching his younger teammate storm away with the world drivers’ championship. But if you think for a second that Antonelli is treating Russell like chopped liver, you just don’t get how these F1 drivers are wired. Because while Russell’s Sundays might have been cursed this year, his Saturdays? Those were still absolute box office. There’s a reason the F1 paddock spent years calling him “Mr. Saturday.” His ability to drag a car by its absolute scruff and somehow pull out a magical qualifying lap from nowhere remains a deeply lethal weapon. And that’s exactly the weapon the new world champion is trying to acquire.
The Q3 Puzzle and Why It Matters So Much
Antonelli, on the Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show, was incredibly honest about his own deficits. Despite holding the ultimate prize, he absolutely heaped praise on Russell’s one-lap wizardry, openly admitting he’s still digging through the veteran’s data to figure out exactly how he pulls it off. “He’s an incredible driver, very quick, especially in qualifying,” Antonelli noted. “I think one thing that I really admire of him is how quick he can be in qualifying, how he can get into the rhythm and how he can just find lap time and put an incredible lap together.” It’s no secret the modern F1 weekend is won or lost on track position. The days of easily slicing through the field are gone forever. We saw the grid tighten up incredibly over the back half of the 2026 season. Antonelli himself pointed out how five drivers were within two-tenths of a second in Mexico. Mess up Q3, and your Sunday is basically ruined by dirty air.
No Rest for the Champ: Antonelli’s 2027 Game Plan
Antonelli has shown phenomenal race craft and tire management on Sundays, we’ve all seen it. But he openly confesses that Russell’s uncanny ability to shift from practice sessions into this sudden, untouchable qualifying rhythm? That’s still a puzzle he hasn’t completely solved. “That’s the thing that I’m still trying to learn from him,” Antonelli confessed. “How, as well from practice, you know, how he is able to always find the little bit of a step. I think this season I’ve been trying to understand how I could extract more performance in qualifying because George is very good at this.” Winning the title clearly hasn’t dulled this young prodigy’s appetite for perfection. The Italian is treating Russell’s Q3 traces as mandatory homework, all to get ready for 2027. “It is a thing that I will try to learn even more from him to understand how he’s able to extract more performance out of himself and the car during a qualifying session,” he concluded. You better believe he’ll be putting in the work.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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