Mar.19 (GMM) Kimi Antonelli has admitted he was left confused – and amused – after being mistakenly announced as Kimi Raikkonen on the podium following his breakthrough win in China.
The 19-year-old Italian, whose victory has already sparked huge excitement in his homeland, said he momentarily did not know how to react when veteran F1 announcer Bob Constanduros made the error.
“I didn’t want to believe it,” Antonelli told SportMediaset.
“I didn’t know whether to go on the podium or not, I was so confused.”
Former driver and GPDA chairman Alex Wurz also saw the funny side of the mix-up.
“Hilarious, because you know Bob, the announcer, he simply made a mistake,” he told ORF.
“If he wins more often, it will become widely known that he is Andrea Kimi Antonelli from Italy.”
Antonelli, however, is quickly becoming a household name in his own right, with Italian media already hailing him as the country’s new star and linking him with a future move to Ferrari.
The Mercedes driver revealed he did have early contact with the Maranello team as a child.
“I had contact with Ferrari, I was 10 or 11 years old,” he said.
“But in the end Mercedes came first. They wanted to take a chance – at the end of 2017 Toto Wolff contacted us. I’m very grateful to him.”
Despite the growing hype, Antonelli insists he is staying grounded after his first Formula 1 victory.
“I celebrated and I’m still enjoying it,” he said.
“It was my first time, and you never forget a first time.
“This is the most special victory of my career, so it was right to enjoy it because I will remember it for the rest of my life.
“On Sunday night, I couldn’t sleep. I was travelling and I was hugging the photo of the trophy.”
He revealed the celebrations themselves were low-key.
“I had a small party with about 10 friends – nothing more,” Antonelli said.
As for his ambitions, the young Italian is keeping his focus simple. “I’m not thinking about the title, but about how to keep winning,” he said.
Antonelli has also clarified the origin of his distinctive – and unofficial – middle name ‘Kimi’ – despite the inevitable comparisons with 2007 world champion Raikkonen.
“My parents didn’t want a second Italian name,” he explained to Bild.
“They wanted something different. A friend suggested it, they liked it – and that’s how I got it.”
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