Kimi Antonelli has been dominating the 2026 Formula 1 season, and former driver Thierry Boutsen believes the Italian could significantly change his driving style in the coming years. For the former driver, the current championship leader could follow a trajectory similar to George Russell’s.
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Antonelli has won six of the eleven races held so far this year, opening a fifty-point lead at the top over Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. Russell is nine points behind the seven-time world champion and has also faced difficulties related to his own performance and Mercedes’ reliability.
According to Boutsen, the aggressive stance currently shown by Antonelli is similar to what Russell demonstrated early in his career. The Belgian believes experience will lead the Italian to adopt a more controlled approach over the years.
“If you take George in his first F1 season, he was as aggressive as Kimi is now,” Boutsen told the official category website. “But he learned a lot, also became calmer and gained more maturity. He races in a completely different way now, and I believe Kimi will be the same in three or four years and will drive very differently from now,” he said.
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Boutsen highlighted that Antonelli usually takes advantage of every opportunity, although this stance can also lead to mistakes: “Today, he is very aggressive and takes every opportunity, although sometimes it happens like in Canada, where he went off track several times. There were also issues with track limits,” he added.
The former driver emphasized that the difference between the two Mercedes drivers is mainly in the stage of their respective careers: “They are very different moments in their careers that explain this difference. For the long term, I don’t know who will win. It’s very hard to say. Both are very, very good drivers,” Boutsen concluded.
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