Kimi Antonelli is certainly proving that he’s a world title contender after winning three consecutive grands prix — and the stats and records continue to tumble.
The 19-year-old Italian has stepped up this year and extended his lead in the championship to 20 points ahead of his experienced teammate George Russell after winning Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix. He’s the youngest driver in history to lead a world title.
Some of these stats link to Formula 1 drivers in different eras, world championship-winning drivers, but one stat is not related to the sport, which makes it even more eerie.
– Kimi Antonelli edges Lando Norris for third straight win, extends title lead
– Pierre Gasly’s Alpine car flips into wall after contact with Liam Lawson
– George Russell: Kimi Antonelli has F1 title ‘momentum,’ but it can ‘swing’
Antonelli and Sinner in lockstep
One of the more peculiar F1 stats is that tennis world No. 1 and fellow Italian Jannik Sinner has won a tournament on the same day Antonelli has won a grand prix.
When Antonelli clinched his first career win at the Chinese Grand Prix, Sinner won the Indian Wells Masters. A couple of weeks later, Antonelli won in Japan, and Sinner won the Miami Masters. To top it all off, Sinner beat Alexander Zverev in the Madrid Masters final, while Antonelli brought it home to get three from three in Miami.
Indeed, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff compared Antonelli and Sinner after the Miami Grand Prix.
“I think the easier bit is making sure that he keeps both feet on the ground here in the team,” he said. “His parents have played a big part in that, to leave him grounded. The bigger problem is the Italian public.
“Now that they are not qualified [for the World Cup], it’s all about Sinner and Antonelli, and Antonelli and Sinner — they’re the two who are superstars. And that is something which we need to contain.”
The record Antonelli broke in Miami
In winning on Sunday, Antonelli becomes the first driver in F1 history to convert his first three career poles into wins, all in consecutive races.
No other driver has ever done this, and he has every opportunity to continue the momentum heading into the Canadian Grand Prix in a couple of weeks, a circuit that Mercedes are usually quite strong at.
Following in the footsteps of legends, not once …
The youngster is only the third driver in the history of Formula 1 who has achieved their first three career poles in consecutive grands prix.
Three-time world champion Ayrton Senna was the first to do it in 1985, and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher later did it in 1994.
… but twice!
To carry on from that stat, he is also the third driver with his first three career wins in consecutive grands prix.
He follows suit to world champion Damon Hill, who won in Hungary, Belgium and Italy in 1993 and two-time title winner Mika Häkkinen, who won the European GP [the last GP of 1997] and the first two races of 1998 in Australia and Brazil.
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How ‘exceptional’ Kimi Antonelli won the Miami Grand Prix
Laurence Edmondson reacts to Kimi Antonelli’s victory at the Miami Grand Prix.
First Mercedes driver since Hamilton
Mercedes has struggled to be a consistent front-running car since 2021, when Lewis Hamilton was battling with Max Verstappen for the world championship.
This is the first time the team have been on the top step of the podium, and before Miami, it was the only team to get a one-two in all formats of the race weekend, before Lando Norris took sprint qualifying and a sprint race win on Saturday.
Antonelli becomes the first Mercedes driver to win three back-to-back races since Hamilton in 2021. The seven-time champion won in Brazil, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the latter stages of the season.
One of 23 drivers
The stats get even more interesting when you dig further. Antonelli is one of 23 drivers to win three races, of whom 20 have become world champions at some point during their F1 career.
The only three who have not are Stirling Moss in 1957-58, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in 2025 and Antonelli.
But could that change in 2026?
