Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes Winning Streak Questioned As Miami GP Luck Claim Made
Three wins from three starts is a hell of a way to begin an F1 career. Kimi Antonelli is now the first driver in history to win his first three Grands Prix from pole position in a row. The record books are being rewritten by a 19-year-old, and yet some of the biggest voices are questioning what his wins have stemmed from.
Juan Pablo Montoya is one of them. Speaking on the F1: Checkered Flag Podcast , Montoya and 1996 world champion Damon Hill got into the specifics of how each of Antonelli’s three victories actually unfolded. On China , he said: “No.
The safety car thing and George got a little bit on the wrong end of the stick there,” Hill said. Japan was closer to a genuine contest, but Montoya argued the margins still favored the young driver: “But yes, China, 1000% George should have won,” Montoya continued. “You go to Japan, I think Kimi had a little bit of upper hand.
They were really close together and Kimi got a better break. The question is if Kimi would have been the other way around, I think Kimi would have made it through those guys. I don’t think Kimi would have been stuck where George was.
” Montoya wasn’t dismissing Antonelli, though. The argument isn’t that Antonelli is undeserving;. It’s that the combination of car, circumstance, and talent makes it genuinely difficult to know, this early, how much of each is doing the work.