Lionel Messi Congratulates Kimi Antonelli After His Historic Miami GP Win

When one of the greatest athletes alive tells you he’s happy to meet you , it’s probably been a good weekend. Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi turned up at the Miami Grand Prix and, before the race, let Kimi Antonelli show him around the Mercedes cockpit. The teenager then went out and won the thing.

After the race, the two met again and Antonelli, visibly exhausted and still sweating through his race suit, greeted Messi with about as much warmth as a 19-year-old can muster: “I’m so happy that I met you! Thank you so much! Thank you so much!

” Not bad for a Sunday’s work. The Race That Nearly Broke Him Antonelli sealed his third consecutive victory of the season at the Miami Grand Prix, holding off McLaren ‘s Lando Norris in an eventful race that was, by his own admission, an ordeal. He described looking at the timing screens with 20 laps left on hard compound tires , in brutal Florida heat and humidity, just wishing it over.

The pace was there, it just wasn’t comfortable. A dramatic start saw Antonelli, Max Verstappen , and Charles Leclerc scrapping into Turn 1 before both the Mercedes and Red Bull locked up, with Verstappen spinning out shortly after. The lead then changed hands multiple times before Antonelli fought his way back to the front thanks to a well-timed pitstop.