Kimi Antonelli told he ‘has to’ change one thing to get on Max Verstappen’s ‘unprecedented’ rookie level

Andrea Kimi Antonelli took his first podium finish in Formula 1 with third place in the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix last week, but the Mercedes rookie still has ‘a lot to learn’.

The Bologna boy has enjoyed a record-breaking start to his F1 career this season. Mercedes promoted their academy graduate to partner George Russell after Lewis Hamilton defected to Ferrari, with Antonelli becoming the third-youngest driver to start a Grand Prix at just 18.

Mercedes have also seen the Italian make history, but Jeroen Bleekemolen does not yet feel Antonelli is on the same ‘level’ as Max Verstappen was during his rookie campaign. Red Bull put the Dutchman in their junior team, then named Toro Rosso, at 17 in the 2015 F1 season.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli ‘has to’ improve his qualifying record against George Russell

Antonelli has hugely impressed Bleekemolen so far this year. Yet the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 class winner with Jos Verstappen believes the Italian must improve his single-lap pace deficit to Russell. Antonelli is on average 0.328s slower in Grand Prix qualifying sessions yet.

Russell has also been Mercedes’ slower driver in a Grand Prix qualifying session just once so far this year at the Miami GP. It was also in Florida that Antonelli became the youngest-ever F1 polesitter in the Miami Sprint, breaking a record that Sebastian Vettel held by two years.

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Antonelli beat Verstappen’s record as F1’s youngest Grand Prix leader and also became the youngest driver to set a fastest lap in Japan. But even Antonelli securing his first F1 podium in the Canadian GP does not yet put his rookie results above Verstappen’s for Bleekemolen.

Bleekemolen told Formule1.NL: “I really liked him, even from his first race in Australia under those difficult circumstances. But he is not yet at the level of Max Verstappen’s debut in Formula 1. That was already at an unprecedented level.

“Antonelli still has a lot to learn, and is also still slower than Russell for the time being. That has to turn around at some point, but you can see the potential in this boy.”

George Russell scored Canadian Grand Prix pole with his second-biggest margin over Kimi Antonelli in 2025

Verstappen partnered Carlos Sainz at Toro Rosso whilst making his F1 debut as the youngest driver to compete in the pinnacle of motorsport in 2015. Sainz even debuted that term, and the Spaniard just beat the Dutchman 10-9 in their Grand Prix qualifying head-to-head battle.

Driving for a midfield team helped to ensure Verstappen only scored 22 points from his first 10 Grand Prix entries, whereas Antonelli boasts 73 points this year from 10 Grands Prix and two F1 Sprint races. Antonelli would have 69 points without the Sprints in China and Miami.

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A P4 finish in the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix was the highlight of Verstappen’s first 10 races for Toro Rosso, after only also scoring points with P7 in Malaysia and P8 in Austria. Antonelli finished fourth on his F1 debut in Australia, before sealing four P6 finishes and P3 in Canada.

Antonelli also had to recover from starting the Australian GP in P16 after damaging his floor during Q1. But Russell has continued to dominate the Bologna boy in qualifying since, with the 27-year-old leading their head-to-head fight 9-1 after the first 10 of this year’s 24 races.

Russell scored pole position for the Canadian GP last weekend with a 1:10.899 Q3 lap time, as well. Antonelli could only secure P4 on the grid after lapping the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve 0.492s slower with a 1:11.391. It was his second-biggest single-lap deficit so far this season.