Doornbos wonders if Antonelli better than Verstappen

Former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos says Kimi Antonelli is already showing the qualities of a "generational talent" - and wonders whether he could eventually become even better than Max Verstappen.

Speaking on The Pit Talk podcast after Antonelli’s dominant Austin weekend, Doornbos said the Mercedes driver appears to thrive under pressure.

"The whole media, everyone was trying to get him to say it out loud this weekend," he said, referring to the constant questioning about Antonelli’s first ’match point’.

"But he doesn’t succumb to that pressure at all. He performs even better when the pressure increases."

Doornbos was particularly impressed by Antonelli’s qualifying advantage over George Russell.

"You saw it during qualifying, when he was out of the blue half a second faster than his teammate with exactly the same material," he said.

"This is a generational talent, someone you rarely meet."

He then made the inevitable comparison with Verstappen.

"Is he as good as Max Verstappen? Time will tell," said Doornbos.

"Or is he even better? Who knows. Give him a few years."

Doornbos continued: "He performed better than everyone else (in Austin). He also performed better than Max."

"That was the duel next to each other that we all hoped for, with Max Verstappen."