Antonelli on verge of EUR 10m title bonus
"Obviously, there’s been a lot of talk"
Kimi Antonelli is now within touching distance of becoming the youngest Formula 1 world champion in history after converting pole into victory in Austin.
The Mercedes driver only narrowly missed sealing the championship in Texas, with George Russell finishing eighth - one place too high for Antonelli to clinch the title.
Antonelli now needs only P9 in Mexico this weekend to secure the title and break Sebastian Vettel’s record as the youngest champion.
"Kimi has won the World Championship 99.9999 percent," Toto Wolff smiled.
"If he clinches it in Mexico, there’ll be a tequila party. And if for some reason it doesn’t work out in Mexico, we’ll just celebrate a week later with caipirinhas in Brazil!"
Wolff joked that Austin may not have been the ideal place for the 20-year-old to celebrate anyway.
"He wouldn’t have been allowed to drink anything here," said the Austrian.
Antonelli admitted the weekend had not been as relaxed as he tried to make it appear.
"Obviously, there’s been a lot of talk," he said.
"I’m not going to lie, on Thursday there was a lot of talk about the championship and stuff, and I just tried not to worry about that at all."
"But today was a very important result for me and for the team."
Wolff was deeply impressed.
"Today was truly the drive of a champion who isn’t yet a champion," said the Mercedes boss. "We’ve been building him up for nine years and have invested a lot of time."
Bild reports Mercedes has also invested around EUR 20 million in Antonelli’s development, while his 2026 earnings including bonuses could approach EUR 10 million.
Asked whether he remembered Vettel clinching his first title in 2010, Antonelli laughed.
"I don’t remember that, when I was four years old," said the Italian.
"I remember playing with Hot Wheels, but I don’t remember him clinching it."
Russell, meanwhile, endured another difficult race.
"The pace was simply rubbish today, to put it briefly," he said.
"I’m simply not fast enough. It’s strange to be so far behind your teammate."