Christian Danner has outlined what Kimi Antonelli must now do to reach Michael Schumacher’s level in F1

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has had an impressive start to life in F1, regularly finishing in the points and taking his first pole in Miami.

The 18-year-old smashed Sebastian Vettel’s record for being the youngest polesitter in any F1 qualifying format with his lap in Sprint qualifying for Miami. However, it was short-lived when Oscar Piastri overtook him off the line at the start of the race.

Damon Hill thought it was ‘inevitable’ that Antonelli would be overtaken as a more experienced driver, as that is currently the key thing he lacks compared to his rivals.

Having completed six races, Antonelli has scored points in five of them with a highest finish of fourth in Australia, after coming through the field from P16 on the grid.

It’s clear the Italian is a special talent, but Christian Danner has outlined what Antonelli must do in the short term if he wants to be as successful as Michael Schumacher or Max Verstappen when speaking to Sport.de.

Kimi Antonelli could be like Michael Schumacher if he stops making mistakes

Mistakes have often led to Antonelli starting out of position on the grid, leading to comeback drives on Sunday.

While Antonelli has finished in the points regularly, it hasn’t always worked out for him. In Bahrain, he finished 11th after a difficult race in which teammate George Russell scored a podium while dealing with brake problems.

Danner thinks Antonelli must cut out some of the rookie mistakes he is making early to become a more successful driver.

“A new supernova is still in the Formula 1 sky. He still makes relatively many mistakes in the race and is not in the same class as George Russell. There is still room for improvement,” said Danner.

“But: He really has something on it and flashed out what can come. Antonelli still has a way to go. It’s not like Schumacher or Verstappen: put in and super fast or won.”

Martin Brundle thinks Kimi Antonelli must fix tyre management

One of the glaring issues that Antonelli has struggled with out of the box in F1 has been the Pirelli tyres, which are often difficult to get into the right performance window.

Martin Brundle thinks Antonelli must work on his tyre management skills, after seeing him effectively go backwards in both the Sprint and main Grand Prix.

Brundle thinks Antonelli can be a ‘touch wild’ in the races, but adds that he’s a fast learner who should make quick improvements.

Antonelli will be coming into the European rounds to circuits that he has more knowledge of, but as he’s shown in Miami, that doesn’t necessarily hold him back from good performances.