Charles Leclerc revealed that he would be happy to see Kimi Antonelli win the title in Formula 1, if Ferrari is not able to be directly in the fight in 2026. The Monegasque driver stated that the enthusiasm of the young Italian reminds him of his early years in the category.
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Leclerc has won only one race this season, the British GP at Silverstone. On that occasion, Antonelli had a problem with his car while chasing the Ferrari driver and finished the race outside the points zone.
Despite the possibility of the title still being in play, Leclerc told Italian Sky Sports that his priority right now is to win again: “I’m not thinking about the championship yet, I want to win another race. The work I’m doing is paying off,” he commented.
Subsequently, the Ferrari driver made clear his preference if his team does not manage to win the championship this year: “If Ferrari can’t win the title, I would be happy if it’s Kimi. He is incredibly enthusiastic, it reminds me of myself when I made my F1 debut,” he added.
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Antonelli arrives at the Dutch GP leading the championship, with 219 points. The Italian has a 50-point advantage over Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc’s teammate at Ferrari, while George Russell is third with 160 points, and Leclerc is in fourth place with 138.
For the rest of the season, the Monegasque also asked Ferrari to maintain an aggressive stance in car development: “The updates are much more significant than in the past, because they make us advance a lot,” he concluded, advocating that the Italian team continue aggressively in its development program.
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