The Senna-fication of Kimi Antonelli

In F1, every generation, a driver comes along with talent or dedication to their craft so supreme that they move the needle for what was thought possible, for how good or how dominant anyone dared believe someone could be.

Juan Manuel Fangio conquered the 1950s, before Jim Clark assumed the mantle in the 60s. Then Jackie Stewart bridged to Niki Lauda in the 70s.

The 1980s had two, in Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, and then Michael Schumacher turned up at Spa-Francorchamps in 1991, and, over the next 15 years, he pushed the boundaries of what was known to be achievable in Formula 1.

He retired ­— for the first time — at the end of 2006, and the seven-time F1 drivers’ champion was immediately replaced by a driver who would become another, Lewis Hamilton.

A decade or so later, Max Verstappen, aged just 17, took Formula 1 by storm. A teenage phenom who would win his first grand prix before most people have even left school.

And now, there’s Kimi Antonelli, and he looks set to comfortably take the crown for the youngest driver to win the crown.

If and when he does, the young Italian will smash Sebastian Vettel’s record by three years, having been a teenager himself for most of the campaign.

The Italian is taking the baton from Verstappen, who carried on from Hamilton and Schumacher before him.

What started with Fangio has adapted and evolved, reshaped itself to fit and suit the times. Arguments for a greatest of all time are reductive and imperfect, but there is almost always a defining driver of a generation, emblematic of an era, adorned in nostalgia and folklore.

And that, precisely, is where Senna stands alone — for now. Maybe it’s because he lost his life in pursuit of the elusive greatest that graces so few.

He is not the only great Formula 1 driver to die in a racing car, but he is often placed on a pedestal.

If you asked 100 people who they thought was the best F1 driver of all time, I’d put money on the largest share of the votes going to the Brazilian; he holds a unique stature in the sport.

Like an AI agent

Full disclosure, I’ve always been more of a Prost person, which is why I’ve maybe found the deification of Senna peculiar, and perhaps slightly over the top.

Maybe it’s because I never lived to see the three-time F1 drivers’ champion race, the majesty of his talent, the breathtaking nature of his abilities that replays can only partially do justice to — I was born just months before that fateful weekend at Imola in 1994.

There is no doubting his brilliance, but to my earlier point, had it been Prost in that Williams that day, maybe things would be viewed differently. And maybe I would feel differently.

But now, I’m left with the unshakable feeling that Antonelli is slowly starting to write his name alongside Senna’s.

The signs were there before the Italian Grand Prix, but Antonelli's exploits at Monza, on home turf, give the impression that what he may have been tentatively etching in pencil will one day be made permanent in pen.

It is no surprise to see the eulogisation of his performance at the Temple of Speed, for Monza is hallowed ground. For Antonelli to do what he did where he did it, at the altar of the Tifosi, where Ferrari is religion, is something quite incredible.

And what makes it all the more remarkable is how unremarkable it all seemed; it was that remarkable.

It was so astonishing that it looked almost ordinary, like it really was no bother to him at all, like he is capable of accessing a higher plane that mere mortals and most others on the grid can only dream of — and all at the age of just 20.

P19 to first. Unreal. Sure, the red flag fell in his favour, and so did strategy (eventually), but it was a masterclass. When all is said and done, it could stand to be his magnum opus. At the least, it feels seminal.

So, it was scarcely unexpected when Toto Wolff said afterwards that he had a feeling Antonelli would "walk over water", a direct reference to Jesus, and later, when he compared the seven-time grand prix winner to an "AI agent" that "continuously self-improves and learns" because of the speed at which he is developing.

And he did make George Russell — who performed well in the other Mercedes — look human.

Antonelli's seminal moment

Senna famously had one of those formative successes — in Monaco during his debut F1 season in 1984, when he, in torrential conditions, dragged his Toleman to second. And it would have been victory, had Prost not been able to, in part, convince the officials to call the race off on safety grounds.

That was when, to many, it first became clear that Senna was special, that he would be special.

And Monza was the perfect place for Antonelli to have his moment. You could argue Imola would have been more fitting, given it’s his home circuit, and because it’s where Senna lost his life, but Imola is no longer on the F1 calendar, even though it may well host the season finale, where Antonelli is looking increasingly likely to end his first title-winning campaign.

But the Temple of Speed is home to potentially the lowest point of Antonelli’s journey to here, when two years ago, he crashed at the Curva Alboreto (or the Parabolica), just 10 minutes into what was shaping up to be a mighty impressive FP1 debut.

Coincidentally, Michele Alboreto is the last Italian to fight for the F1 drivers’ championship, in 1985. Giancarlo Fisichella led the hunt for a round, two decades later, but only because he won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

And last year at Monza, Wolff called out Antonelli’s poor performance as "underwhelming". 12 months on, he recounted telling him he needed to "wake up" after a torrid European leg of the schedule. 

That all plays into the significance of Monza, where pivotal moments seem in rich supply for Antonelli. 

Watching him stand on the podium after his triumph, in front of the sea of red, you could sense passionate Ferrari fans, who have long held Italian drivers at arm’s length with an icy regard, continue to warm to him, as they have done so across the current campaign; how that winter of discontent is beginning to thaw.

Antonelli is becoming embraced, the first Italian to win at Monza in 60 years. Unlike those who came before him, he is approaching uncharted territory.

Unique legacy

Senna is adored, understandably so, and Antonelli is well on his way.

But he is the first to highlight his dislike of comparisons. That’s fair enough; he is so early in his career, and Mercedes has sought to shield him from the accompanying pressure and the weight of expectation.

Don’t get me wrong, there are no guarantees in F1, or in life more generally. Antonelli’s potential and initial signs of promise have the markings of an extraordinary career, but that doesn’t mean it will play out that way.

But Senna has his own unique legacy. And Antonelli can have his. 

Like Verstappen, Hamilton and Schumacher, Senna was divisive. Polarising figures, of which Antonelli is not — at least not yet. 

So, it’s not the hair and the resemblance, or the fact that the Brazilian is his idol — or that he chose to race under the number 12 that became synonymous with his hero — that are the true foundations of this particular comparison; it’s that Antonelli, too, has the opportunity to leave his own indelible mark.

And he can achieve that by doing it differently, by moving the needle again and separating himself.

Walk over water?

Asked whether Antonelli’s performance at Monza was definitive evidence that his driver is the complete package, and that what was just achieved was the final piece of the jigsaw, Wolff cut to the very heart of what the Italian has a chance to do.

"When you talk about the complete driver, the aspect of experience is still missing; that needs to come," he said.

"There is also that he has this easiness of a young man that helps to overcome difficult moments. That also helps in managing not getting ahead of himself when having these glorious moments.

"There is the fact of whether he is capable of maturing, of staying the personality that he is — humble, with a lot of introspection, self-criticism — in order to develop, and that only the future is going to show whether he is, like a few drivers before him, the complete deal."

If Lando Norris proved last year that you can win championships as the antithesis of the overtly flawed and stereotypical athlete, perhaps it is Antonelli who will prove you can emulate greatness in the same mould, by being dominant but not divisive.

We don’t know how much he will go on to win, or how much he might achieve, or even how he will go about doing it, if he does at all. But on Sunday at Monza, you got the sense that Antonelli is starting to tread that path.

Walk over walk? Perhaps not. Walk in the footsteps of Senna and unique legacy? Maybe.