Kimi Antonelli: The second coming of Ayrton Senna?

Kimi Antonelli had the best weekend of his young F1 career at the Miami Grand Prix, claiming a historic pole position for the sprint.

The 18-year-old became the youngest to do so in F1, eclipsing Sebastian Vettel's record by two-and-a-half years.

The fact it did not occur in a grand prix qualifying session - and thus does not take the record for that - is merely a footnote to how impressive it was.

For Antonelli to even be in F1 at his age is exceptional, let alone performing to the standard he is. Having skipped FIA F3 entirely en route to F2, it almost emulates the meteoric ascension of Max Verstappen a decade ago.

Toto Wolff missed out on the Dutchman then and he was not about to make the same mistake twice.

Having let the now-four-time F1 drivers' champion slip through his fingers, Antonelli was elevated to an F1 race seat less than a year after he clinched the Formula Regional crown.

However, to many it was far too early. A point of view emboldened by the Mercedes driver's heavy crash just 10 minutes into his FP1 debut at Monza.

It is hard to argue the Italian is not ready now, or was not ready when he stormed through the field in Melbourne on debut.

If Verstappen was the most recently-proven generational talent, Antonelli is the next. But whilst there are undeniable parallels to the former's rise, he is not the racing driver the latter evokes.

Not Verstappen, but Senna

Watching Antonelli's pole lap at the Miami International Autodrome was compelling viewing. He wove through the corners with a delicate balance. He was poised on the edge. Floating, dancing.

In many ways, it was Verstappen-esque. Although, the Red Bull driver is more clinical, more ruthlessly consistent; there is something robotic about the way he finds and delivers his lap time. That is his brilliance.

Antonelli is more raw, more unrefined. More like Ayrton Senna.

Interestingly, it is the three-time F1 drivers' champion who Verstappen has often been compared to. But I'm not so sure I see that to the same extent as I do with Antonelli.

Full disclosure: After the round in the Sunshine State, I wrote it was a bold claim to say he is the second coming of Senna, and one that is far too early to make. I stand by that. You would hope so, that was only 24 hours prior to writing this. But it did get me thinking...

An important caveat

Now, the Mercedes driver being unpolished should come as no surprise. He is six rounds into his Formula 1 career after all, and that might change.

But it didn't for the Brazilian. And that was immediately who came to mind watching that lap in Florida.

So whilst it is far too premature to make grand claims of succession, it doesn't stop us from asking the question - or at least sewing the seed that he might flourish into the heir to that particular throne.

He has an awfully long way to go, just look at how the sprint and grand prix in Miami unfolded for him. Although, how he raced had a certain Senna-like flair to it.

But rarely do rookies touch F1 with the deft hand of excellence in the way Senna - and the likes of Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton did. Antonelli threatens to do the same.

And before this is dismissed as hopeless romanticism for F1's biggest legend and most painful what if, I have often found the deification of Senna, or at least the extent of it, strange.

He may be the most popular connoisseurs' choice, but the methodical approach of Alain Prost always spoke more to me, so this is purely a case of call it how you see it.

Style and substance

There is a beautiful, and obvious, symmetry to it. Some might call it poetic.

Although, I'm not sure I would, for it is perhaps somewhat manufactured on account of Senna being Antonelli's racing hero and the famed number 12 now adoring his W16. That is the cynic in me.

Their journeys are - and will continue to be - different. Senna did not reach F1 until the age of 24 and had to work his way up the grid, putting in the hard yards and hard graft from Toleman to Lotus to McLaren to attain greatness.

That is not to say Antonelli has not earned his seat at Mercedes, for what it is worth, but to be placed immediately into podium-capable machinery is more Hamilton than it is Senna. That is no slight on the Ferrari driver, it is just a different path.

But make no mistake, the ties are more significant than circumstance, or the mere coincidence Antonelli was born in Emilia Romagna, the same region in which Imola, where Senna lost his life, is located.

Antonelli possesses the power to move a nation, and a sport - as Senna did.

Italy, for its deep and enduring love of racing, has been starved of success in F1 for the longest time.

Alberto Ascari won three drivers' titles, but his last came in 1953 - just the fourth year in the championship's now 75-year history.

When an Italian last won a grand prix, at the hands of Giancarlo Fisichella at the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2006, Antonelli was not even born. He was two when Ferrari won its last championship.

So, whilst it is far, far to early to claim - with 41 grand prix victories, 65 pole positions and three championships to go - the young Mercedes driver absolutely does have the opportunity to echo Senna - in both style and in substance.

And even though Schumacher, Hamilton and now Verstappen are all titans of F1, if Antonelli can fulfil on his early promise, there is every chance he fixes a three-decades old hole in Formula 1's heart.