Kimi Antonelli celebrates (Credits: BBC Sport)
Kimi Antonelli has become Formula 1’s youngest world champion — and his hometown of Bologna is bursting with pride. Italy hasn’t had an F1 drivers’ champion in 73 years, and for a nation synonymous with speed, the wait has been torturous.
At the track where it all began, Galliano Park in Forli, track owner Manuel Fantini remembers the six-year-old who climbed into a go-kart he could barely reach the pedals of. “He was improving with each lap, like he’d known the track for years,” Fantini told BBC Sport. “His priority was being better — not being faster. That is the key in motorsport to be a champion.”
Kimi Antonelli’s Italian GP Win From 19th on the Grid
Perhaps the defining moment of Antonelli’s title season was his Italian Grand Prix victory from 19th on the grid — a masterclass of overtaking that many believe signals years of dominance ahead. After the Monza win, he famously ate tagliatelle al ragu out of the winner’s trophy, a nod to his Bolognese roots.
Antonelli vs Ferrari: Bologna’s Motorsport Dilemma
Antonelli’s success has given Italians a rare dilemma: cheering for anyone other than Ferrari is near blasphemy in Italy, yet Antonelli races for German-owned Mercedes. As one Bologna resident put it, for the first time in history the Monza crowd was split between Ferrari and Kimi. But at the local trattoria where he still dines with his family, owner Luca Bugamelli sums it up: “Kimi is just one of us. This region loves motorsport. Kimi is the God of the land.”
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.