Andrea Kimi Antonelli has outlined the “massive lesson” he received after almost throwing away his maiden Formula 1 win at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix.
Antonelli stormed to a sensational first-ever Grand Prix win, ahead of team-mate George Russell, at the Shanghai International Circuit, on Sunday.
Starting on pole, as the youngest pole-sitter, for the 56-lap race, the Italian kept a cool head and drove a stellar race all along to beat the likes of Russell and Ferrari to the chequered flag.
That said, in the closing phases of the race, he did give himself a “heart attack”.
Leading comfortably, the 19-year-old locked his front-right tyre in the large braking zone of Turn 14. The Mercedes driver was able to get his W17 halted in time and used the run-off area to safely rejoin the track.
With Russell almost 10 seconds away, Antonelli was able to keep himself on track and cruised to victory thereafter.
Looking back, though, he revealed how he had learned a “massive lesson” in that moment.
“You know, there’s so much that I’ve learned,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“But first of all; never relax too much because, you know, today it went well because it could have been worse.
“So just always try to stay on point and keep the focus, because today at the end I opened the room for mistakes, and the mistake happened.”
Antonelli describes other ‘good lessons’ after Chinese GP win
All in all, however, the conditions in Shanghai gave a very handy crash-course to Antonelli in terms of tyre management, he believes – something he will take with himself throughout the remainder of the 2026 campaign.
He made a one-stop strategy work to the tee, the task only augmented by the cooler-than-normal track temperatures in China.
“So, just need to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Antonelli continued.
“And then, of course, also, you know, just trying to focus on doing things right, you know, procedure-wise, warm-up, bringing the tyre into the stint, I think, was a massive lesson.
“And also today was very cold and was a good lesson to see, you know, what was the best way to keep the tyres in a good window.”
Heading into the Japanese GP weekend, Antonelli sits only four points shy of team-mate Russell at the top of the F1 Drivers’ standings.
READ MORE – Kimi Antonelli comes of age to score maiden F1 win with Shanghai masterclass
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