Former System 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes Kimi Antonelli is maturing quickly and turning into very snug racing on the entrance of the pack, which he warns needs to be a priority for the remainder of the grid.
Antonelli continued his sensational 2026 marketing campaign on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, claiming his fourth consecutive grand prix win. His victory, mixed together with his Mercedes team-mate George Russell’s retirement, has prolonged the Italian driver’s lead within the standings to 43 factors.
It was not simply his race outcome that caught Montoya’s consideration, however relatively the best way by which Antonelli performed himself after the race. Russell’s retirement got here after a number of laps of a tense battle with Antonelli for first place, and when the 19-year-old driver crossed the road, he admitted over the workforce radio that it wasn’t the best way he needed to win that one.
Talking on the F1 post-race present, Montoya applauded Antonelli’s potential to deal with the strain. “Yeah, it simply exhibits how rapidly he is maturing, how good he is moving into that position and the way snug he is moving into that position.
“That is the regarding half for the entire paddock, is how snug he’s successful, and whenever you’re snug successful, it is so exhausting to cease you.”
The second got here after a extra fraught dash race on Saturday when his frustrations bought the higher of Antonelli. He complained a number of instances over workforce radio that Russell had pushed him off the monitor in one other battle, which workforce chief Toto Wolff rapidly shut down, urging the younger driver to put it aside for a non-public dialog.
Juan Pablo Montoya
Photograph by: Marco Canoniero / LightRocket through Getty Pictures
Montoya famous Antonelli’s change in mindset from Saturday. “I assumed it was superb. I feel the race between them was superb,” he mentioned of the Mercedes drivers. “At first, it appeared like George had him lined for over a second, and rapidly, they’re racing one another, passing one another.
“It was most likely out of the hairpin at Flip 10 once more; each of them had been struggling on the brakes there. The man main, it appeared like they did not have a adequate reference or the circumstances had been altering, or the tyres had been on the restrict as a result of they had been lacking the nook.
“All people was lacking Flip 10 quite a bit, and that simply made it extra fascinating. I feel other than the small mistake Kimi made on the braking there, and he averted it nicely, his mindset was higher than yesterday.”
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