Antonelli says father initially opposed his racing ambitions

Kimi Antonelli says his father initially did not want him to race because Marco had been unable to continue his own racing career without financial backing.

At a drivers’ press conference in Austin ahead of the United States Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver said his father wanted to spare him the disappointments he had experienced. Marco later started his own racing team, Antonelli said.

His father changed his mind after seeing his son’s passion, Antonelli recalled: “But then he saw I had passion, so he decided to give it a go.”

Marco, a former racing driver who now runs his own Italian GT and Formula 4 teams, makes a major effort to balance his work and team with attending his son’s races, Antonelli said. He described his father as “like my rock” and said his father, mother and the rest of his family know him best; his father also knows how to handle him in certain situations.

Antonelli credited Mercedes with supporting him from karting onward and giving him the opportunities to reach Formula 1. He heads into Sunday’s race with a 102-point championship lead, with teammate George Russell second, and could become the youngest champion in F1 history.