In a large circular building on the Mediterranean Sea there is a huge banquet hall full of round tables, where Prince Albert II of Monaco will dine Sunday evening with a teenage boy in a tuxedo. Not just any teenage boy: Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the 19-year-old Mercedes driver who, as the winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, according to tradition, automatically receives an invitation to a dinner with the head of state of the Mediterranean mini-state.
The Italian, who is only in his second Formula 1 season, has earned it. In the streets of Monaco he won his fifth race in a row on Sunday, a victory for which he had laid the foundation a day earlier with a fabulously good qualifying lap.
Antonelli is busy implementing the scenario that another sensational racing teenager wrote ten years ago: Max Verstappen, who, like Antonelli, is blessed with enormous talent and also won for the first time in his second F1 year. But Antonelli goes one step further. Because while Verstappen only had one victory in 2016, Antonelli has a car that has enabled him to continue winning after his first triumph in March.
It is therefore not surprising that the Mercedes hospitality area was packed with press on Thursday for an interview with Antonelli. The five rows of seats that had been set up were far from sufficient; the journalists stood almost to the back wall of the room.
Antonelli was not impressed and listened to the questions with fresh eyes. He surveyed the crowd from a stool at a high table and took his time with his answers, in perfect English. In between, one of the smartphones that was on the table in front of him as a recording device went off. He pushed the bell away, laughing.
If Antonelli completes his title hunt this year, he will not only become the youngest F1 champion ever, but also the first Italian champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953. Antonelli: “I know how emotional we Italians are. So yes, the expectations are high.”
Specially installed outdoor bar
Outside, meanwhile, the usual madness of a Monaco weekend reigned. The route takes you past stately buildings and opulent hotels. On the terrace of the Hôtel de Paris, someone who was having breakfast diagonally above the race track was robbed of his omelet by a seagull. The VIPs who can afford the exquisite establishments were swarming around the extremely cramped paddock. Those who were lucky could catch a glimpse of Kim Kardashian, Lewis Hamilton’s new girlfriend, between the bodyguards.
Directly next to the paddock is a dealer of the exclusive yacht brand from which Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) recently received a new boat with an outdoor bar installed especially for him. Compared to the superyachts that were anchored in the bay during the race weekend because they could not enter the packed marina, Leclerc’s acquisition almost looked like a rubber boat. A floating queue of small boats formed between the jetties, dropping off the passengers of the superyachts at the paddock.
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The boats, the luxury, the stars: these are Monaco clichés. But on site they ensure that everyone – including the drivers – is aware of being present at what, despite all the criticism about the lack of overtaking, is still the most prestigious and historic F1 race.
Where that context in itself already creates extra pressure for the drivers, the sporting challenge is at least as great: the most difficult qualifying of the year on Saturday, and staying out of the guardrail for 78 laps on Sunday. And Antonelli also carries the burden of the title fight.
Once on the track, he was not aware of all the stress factors. On Saturday afternoon the competition came very close in qualifying, because on the short, winding track in Monaco, Mercedes’ natural advantage was almost neutralized. The session turned into a direct duel between Antonelli and Verstappen. Both slid along the guardrails with majestic precision. Verstappen’s final lap resulted in an unbeatable-looking time. But by taking the chicane after the tunnel and the two tight right-hand corners that end the lap perfectly, Antonelli beat the Dutchman by 0.043 seconds.
Antonelli’s qualifying was a classic piece of Monaco wizardry – objectively speaking, and also in the driver’s own words. “That was what you call a magic round.” His much more experienced teammate George Russell was four-tenths of a second slower, a considerable gap on such a short circuit as Monaco, and said he had no idea why he was so slow. Not an unimportant fact, when you consider that given the dominance of Mercedes, Russell is currently Antonelli’s only serious title rival.
Late restart
In the race, there is no longer any question of a possible fight for victory between Antonelli and Verstappen after two seconds. Verstappen cannot move from his spot due to engine trouble and drops out. Antonelli then leads for most of the race. Towards the end, after a red flag due to broken asphalt in the last corner, he has to restart from the starting grid. But even then Antonelli remains calm.
Thanks to his Monaco victory, Antonelli has a comfortable lead of 66 points in the World Cup standings. If things continue like this, he can take his tuxedo out of the closet again in December: for the gala dinner in Shanghai where the World Cup will be awarded.