Kimi Antonelli avoided claiming the title of best driver in Formula 1 in 2026, but stated that he is among the main names of the season. The Italian highlighted that consistency and the reduction of errors were decisive factors in placing him in the championship lead.
Read more Verstappen shows fatigue from repeating F1 criticism: «There comes a time when enough is enough»
After another dominant victory at the Belgian GP, Antonelli extended his lead in the standings and arrived at the Hungarian GP with a 45-point difference to Lewis Hamilton and 50 to George Russell. The Mercedes driver leads the table with 204 points, ahead of the two rivals.
Asked this Thursday (23) in Hungary if he believes he was the best driver of the first half of the season, Antonelli preferred to adopt a cautious stance: “It’s hard to say. I think I was one of the best, but I wouldn’t say I was the best driver on the grid,” he stated.
The Italian explained that the absence of major errors was one of the strong points of his season so far: “If I look back, I think we were the ones who made the fewest mistakes, and I believe that’s what brought us here and allowed us to achieve good results,” he continued.
Read more F1: FIA confirms four DRS zones for the Hungarian GP
Antonelli also recognized the importance of Mercedes’ performance for the positive momentum, but highlighted the joint work between driver and team. According to him, the execution during the weekends was fundamental to achieve the current position in the championship.
“Of course, we also had a very strong car, but from my side, I’m happy to go into the August break, although we still have this weekend to finish well, because in terms of execution, together with the team, we did an incredible job,” he said.
The championship leader also reinforced that the result built so far came from the combination of performance and efficiency in the decisions made throughout the stages: “This allowed us to reach this position. In that aspect, we did very well in this first part of the season,” he added.
Read more F1: Hamilton evaluates season at Ferrari and sees room for improvement
