Kimi Antonelli continues to gain prominence in Formula 1, after winning the Canadian GP and extending his lead in the championship. The performance of the young Mercedes driver led Ralf Schumacher to state that the Italian could become ‘Max Verstappen’s successor in the future’.
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The victory in Montreal was Antonelli’s fourth consecutive win of the season and increased his lead over teammate George Russell to 43 points. The two engaged in an intense duel for much of the race, exchanging positions until the Briton’s retirement on lap 30 due to a power unit failure.
“It was an epic duel,” Schumacher said during an appearance on German Sky Sports. The former F1 driver especially highlighted the maturity shown by Antonelli during the internal Mercedes battle: “Kimi handled it incredibly calmly and maturely.”
According to Schumacher, Russell seemed to have more speed at certain moments of the race but ended up making mistakes under pressure: “George kept making mistakes. Of course, Kimi also made one, but George was clearly the faster driver,” he commented.
The German emphasized that Antonelli’s attitude is even more impressive given the driver’s young age: “You need to know how to control this situation at such a young age, learn from your own mistakes, and keep everything under control. It was an excellent job,” Schumacher said.
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For the former driver, the Italian’s recent growth could put him on the same path followed by Verstappen in Formula 1: “If this continues, maybe we really have a successor to Max Verstappen in the future,” he added.
Schumacher also recalled the beginning of Antonelli’s journey in the category and stated that the driver needed time to adapt in his first F1 season in 2025. According to him, Mercedes was still facing development problems with the car, especially at the rear, which made the start of the young Italian’s journey difficult.
Now, however, the former driver believes Antonelli has entered a new phase within Mercedes: “He wants to advance, wants to lead the team, and you can feel that. He is no longer giving George room to breathe and constantly puts him under pressure,” concluded Schumacher, who also assessed that Russell does not always react well to this intense pressure scenario.
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