Youngest-ever rookie to lead race now aims to win after positive experience in Japan

SUZUKA – Kimi Antonelli has set his sights on a first grand prix win after the 18-year-old Mercedes rookie became the youngest driver to lead a Formula One race on April 6.

The Italian, who finished sixth at the Japanese Grand Prix, briefly moved into first when leader and eventual winner Max Verstappen and the pack chasing him pitted midway through the race.

Verstappen was 18 years and 228 days old, four days older than Antonelli, when the Dutch four-time world champion first took a grand prix lead at Spain in 2016, a race he went on to win.

Antonelli, who lies fifth in the drivers’ standings on 30 points, said he would now aim even higher.

“It was a nice feeling to lead the race for a few laps and become the youngest driver in F1 history to have done so,” he said.

“The next goal is to do that on the only lap that matters: the final one.”

Antonelli finished one place behind teammate George Russell. He also finished fourth in the season-opener in Australia and sixth in China.

The teenager’s tally is the best among the six full-season rookies on the grid, way ahead of Haas’ Oliver Bearman (five points).

His appetite whetted, Antonelli is looking forward to this week’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

“Every time I get in the car, I am building my learning and feeling more comfortable. Hopefully we can keep improving and begin to fight for some of the positions further forward than we managed today,” he said.

Mercedes chief communications officer Bradley Lord said Antonelli had “ticked off several more milestones”.

“He has built his confidence over the weekend at a demanding track and achieved a solid result,” he said. “His development is encouraging to see and it’s a third consecutive strong race performance from him.”

Antonelli is not the only young gun who performed well in Suzuka.

Isack Hadjar scored his first points in F1 with Racing Bulls and said he would never say no to the main Red Bull team should they eventually seek his services.

The 20-year-old French rookie, who suffered a painful seatbelt squeeze in qualifying that he said had nearly cost him his weekend, finished eighth after starting seventh, picking up four points.

He had lined up alongside the Ferrari of his racing hero Lewis Hamilton, who passed him in one of the rare track overtakes.

Hadjar had spun out on the formation lap of his Australian debut, shedding tears of frustration, and then finished 11th in China.

“We were not fighting Lewis today, obviously he was out of reach,” he said. “But what was good was definitely the start, we held position, were threatening a bit on Kimi but just not enough. That was the perfect race today.”

Hadjar is already on his second teammate of the season after Liam Lawson was demoted from Red Bull in a straight swop with Yuki Tsunoda, neither of whom scored points in Suzuka.

“It’s been an amazing weekend, especially from Isack, with P7 in qualifying and P8 today in the race with some seriously fast cars behind him,” said RB boss Laurent Mekies.

Asked if he considered himself to be next in line for promotion now, Hadjar laughed. He said: “To be honest I’m really enjoying where I am at the moment. I would never refuse a call, that’s for sure, but let’s see. I’m just having fun.” AFP, REUTERS