Kimi, fortune favors the brave. Leclerc moving
Toto Wolff he claps him with proud eyes: even in Japan, as had happened in China, Kimi Antonelli he starts from pole but does it very badly, finding himself in sixth place: «He told me that I have to practice my starts to make them at least decent…», reveals the young blue from Mercedes, who has just turned 19 the youngest ever leader of a world championship. It will have a month to do so, Formula 1 returns only on May 3 in Miami after the war in the Middle East prevented it from racing in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Kimi never lost heart. The tranquility and smile shown before the start (not to be taken for granted for those who had all eyes on him) were sincere, this was evident in the way he made his comeback: on the second lap he took off the paint Hamilton at triple speed on the straight, at the 12th he braked to the detriment of Norris which is worth 4th place, then the duel with Leclerc before the Monegasque is called to the pits, then the stroke of luck that is needed, that is the wall accident by Bearman and the consequent entry of the safety car on lap 22. A happy coincidence for Kimi and Hamilton, at that moment in the lead and the only ones not to have stopped: «We were very lucky with the safety car, I don’t know if it would have been different but it made my life easier», the admission of Antonelli, who was thus able to make the pit stop in half the time compared to Piastri and Russell.
From there another race begins in which we only race for the podium. There is no story about the victory, Kimi takes the lead after the stop and with a frenetic pace he leaves no chance for Piastri, 2nd. The advantage with which the blue crosses the finish line is over thirteen secondsa test of strength that especially frightens his teammate, George Russell, who is delayed by about fifteen seconds and is now called upon to have a mental reaction in this long forced pause in the championship.
A veteran management at just 19 years old for Antonelli, another championship race for Leclerc, which pushes Ferrari onto the third step of the podium when the Red team was inferior to both Mercedes and McLaren this weekend (Hamilton finished sixth behind Norris and barely, with a lockout). Charles fought with everything he had (and didn’t have), pulling off a masterpiece overtaking on the outside on Lewis on lap 42 and fending off Russell for eight laps and by a decidedly superior Mercedes. The tailspin on lap 49 showed Leclerc at the limit, then with three laps to go the thrilling braking on the outside with which he immediately responded to the Englishman’s attack: “In the direct comparison I think I defended myself well and the duel was certainly fun”, he commented with moderate satisfaction, because the delay from his rivals is clear.
Hamilton reiterates this, without mincing too many words: «I don’t know how much can be done in a month, but we hope for a new engine after Miami and then we’ll see what we can do. Today we really lacked a lot of power.” Whoever stops is lost. Antonelli certainly has no intention of stopping dreaming.
