At last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli broke one of Max Verstappen’s numerous Formula 1 records.
With a spectacular pole position-grand prix win double at the Suzuka International Circuit, four-time world champion Verstappen closed the gap on early drivers’ championship leader Lando Norris to just one point.
Fending off the two McLarens for the whole race to capture a surprise victory, the triumph was undoubtedly one of his best in his career. However, some eyes were on the 18-year-old rookie Antonelli, who put up another outstanding effort.
After finishing sixth in Japan, Mercedes’ Antonelli became the first rookie to earn points in all three of their series’ opening races since Lewis Hamilton in 2007.
After battling Hamilton for much of the race, Antonelli finally overtook the seven-time world champion, finishing more than ten seconds ahead of the British driver in the Ferrari.
As a result, Antonelli remains in fifth place in the drivers’ championship, just behind his much more seasoned teammate George Russell and ahead of drivers like Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull, Charles Leclerc, and Hamilton.
However, a specific aspect of Antonelli’s race allowed the Italian to become the youngest driver to ever lead an F1 race and break one of Verstappen’s records, which had stood for nine years.
          Antonelli becomes youngest race leader
Antonelli’s ability to control his tires, which allowed his medium tires to endure noticeably longer than those of all the other front-runners, was one of the race’s most remarkable features.
As a result, Mercedes divided the strategy between their two drivers, with Antonelli staying out ten laps longer than his teammate when all the other drivers, including Russell, entered the pits for their stop.
At the age of 18 years and 224 days, he became the youngest race leader in history when leading the Japanese Grand Prix for those laps. This also gave him new tires to defend against Hamilton later in the race.
Although Verstappen went on to win the race, Antonelli can no longer surpass his record as the youngest F1 race winner. That shattered Verstappen’s previous record, achieved at the 2016 Spanish GP, by four days.
