By Alan Baldwin
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Max Verstappen advised Kimi Antonelli to enjoy the ride and get ready to celebrate as the Italian stands on the brink of becoming Formula One’s youngest ever champion.
The 20-year-old Mercedes driver qualified on pole position for Sunday’s US Grand Prix and could clinch the title with five rounds to spare, according to the current calendar that includes races in the Middle East, at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas if he wins and other results go his way.
Red Bull’s Verstappen, a four-time champion, will be alongside on the front row and fighting for his third successive victory after Malaysia and Singapore.
The Dutch driver will not be making it easy for Antonelli but he also recognised that the main battle was over.
“He knows what he’s doing, so he just needs to try and win the race. If it (the title) doesn’t happen here, it will happen next weekend. If it doesn’t happen next weekend, it will happen the weekend after,” he said, sitting alongside Antonelli in a post-qualifying press conference.
“I think it’s just been an incredible season, so you have to also just try and enjoy this kind of ride of the last few months that you’ve been in.
“At one point, of course, it’s official, and then you can celebrate probably a little bit.”
Verstappen said Antonelli, who is 102 points clear of teammate and closest rival George Russell, deserved all the success he was having.
“He’s very consistent, he’s putting the performances in when it matters, and once it’s finally official that he is world champion, he’s definitely a deserving winner,” he said.
Antonelli said the weekend did feel different, with his first “match point” in the championship, but the goal remained the same.
“We still have to do the race tomorrow, still have to try and win, and then, of course, we’ll see what happens. But yeah, I feel like I can enjoy it a bit more because obviously I’m in a very good position,” he said.
The Italian added that his biggest immediate achievement, on a gusty day with a tailwind blowing, had been to keep his car within the track limits.
The Italian has regularly fallen foul of stewards and irritated team boss Toto Wolff with his breaches of the limits this season.
“One of the keys was not doing any track limits. That was very good for me because I’ve had a couple of races where I’ve done track limits in crucial moments, and that kind of put myself in a bad position and under more pressure. So that hasn’t been ideal,” he told Sky Sports television.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by William Mallard)
