Kimi Antonelli benefited from the chaos of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to recover from 16th on the grid to fifth, but onboard footage from Baku suggests his escape from Franco Colapinto’s major restart accident was not simply a matter of luck. The Mercedes driver repeatedly checked his left mirror before the collision developed and reacted early enough to leave space for the out-of-control Alpine.
Two Safety Cars, Oscar Piastri’s major mistake in the closing stages and, above all, the chain-reaction accident triggered by Franco Colapinto helped transform Kimi Antonelli’s race. The collision eliminated the Argentine, Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris in one sequence.
Kimi Antonelli then added an overtake on Lewis Hamilton, whose Ferrari was clearly struggling relative to the Mercedes, and eventually secured fifth place. It was an important damage-limitation result in the Formula 1 championship standings, especially considering that the 20-year-old from Bologna had started only 16th after crashing in Q1.
The narrative of a ‘lucky’ Kimi Antonelli
The way events unfolded in Azerbaijan – almost all of them favouring Kimi Antonelli – revived the narrative on social media that the Italian has been particularly fortunate this season. Despite George Russell’s victory in Baku, Kimi Antonelli retained a reassuring 66-point advantage over his Mercedes team-mate with eight Grands Prix remaining.
Similar situations earlier in the season, particularly accidents followed by Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car periods, have also presented Kimi Antonelli with opportunities that he has managed to exploit.
The most obvious example came at the previous Madrid Grand Prix. Lando Norris had been dominating the race when Lance Stroll went off the circuit and triggered a Virtual Safety Car. Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes judged the timing perfectly and entered the pits, while the reigning world champion had already narrowly passed the pit entry and lost his advantage.
The episode also raised wider questions over Formula 1’s Virtual Safety Car rules after Kimi Antonelli’s Madrid victory.
Kimi Antonelli eventually won the race, although he would probably have finished second without that fortunate development. He openly acknowledged it afterwards: “I was lucky, Lando deserved to win.”
Kimi Antonelli also created his own opportunity in Madrid
Luck alone, however, is of limited value unless a driver and team are fast enough and alert enough to exploit it within seconds. In Madrid, both Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes contributed to the outcome through an extremely rapid reaction.
Lando Norris was leading and had already passed the pit entry when the VSC was deployed following Lance Stroll’s retirement. Kimi Antonelli was alerted by race engineer Peter Bonnington, deliberately slowed down and managed to enter the pits.
Mercedes later explained that there was a radio “code” involved and that Kimi Antonelli had created the necessary margin by slowing down. That Madrid victory added another major result to an already remarkable campaign, with the Italian subsequently adding to an extraordinary collection of Formula 1 records.
What happened in Baku as Kimi Antonelli watched Colapinto
The Baku incident provides another example. Looking at what happened around the restart, Kimi Antonelli’s onboard camera clearly shows the Mercedes driver repeatedly checking the mirror on his left well before the left-hand corner where the accident involving Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris developed.
He had evidently been alerted to the situation within seconds by Peter Bonnington and could see what was developing behind him. More importantly, Kimi Antonelli appeared to understand what was about to happen: Franco Colapinto had completely misjudged his braking point and would have virtually no chance of making the corner normally.
Kimi Antonelli therefore slowed down and left space to his left, allowing Franco Colapinto to shoot past before the collision unfolded. The Mercedes driver was able to negotiate the resulting mass of cars without being eliminated from the race.
It was a split-second decision that helped Kimi Antonelli minimise the damage caused by George Russell’s victory in Azerbaijan, both in terms of championship points and morale. Russell had arrived in Baku facing an 81-point deficit after already conceding that his Formula 1 title hopes had suffered a major blow in Madrid, but his Azerbaijan victory reduced that gap to 66.
Is Kimi Antonelli simply lucky?
Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya have both said during the season that Kimi Antonelli has “the luck of a champion”. That is hardly a disadvantage.
No champion in the history of sport has ever had reason to complain about being described as fortunate. But the incidents in Madrid and Baku also underline another side of Kimi Antonelli’s campaign: when an opportunity suddenly appears, the Mercedes driver has repeatedly shown the awareness needed to recognise it and react quickly enough to benefit.
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