F1 | MIAMI GP, GIAN CARLO MINARDI: “ITALIAN MOTORSPORT AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli had the Italian national anthem played once again in Florida a few after Gabriele Mini’s win in F2. This was a day of special significance for those who love this sport.

Italian motorsport is currently going through one of its finest periods in recent years. The results achieved by Antonelli and Mini, and Leonardo Fornaroli last year, confirm that the work done is producing talents capable of making their mark at the very highest international levels.

This represents a source of great pride and satisfaction for me too in my roles as the Managing Director of ACI, Chairman of the Speed Commission and Supervisor of the Federal School which, under the leadership of Raffaele Giammaria, is reaching important milestones

Once again Antonelli proved his worth with an exceptional weekend, starting with the commanding pole position. In the race he fought it out on the edge of thousandths of a second against the world champions McLaren and Lando Norris.

We are talking about a young man who is only 19 years, who still has wide room for improvement, and is making rapid progress, even though this does not come as a surprise for those who have followed him since the karts. Year after year he has deserved the place he is now occupying. I have every confidence in him because he has a maturity beyond his age. As is my habit, I followed the GP keeping an eye on the times lap by lap, and it was impressive.

As was to be expected, the enforced month-long break has shifted the balance on the track, starting with McLaren’s improvement following a difficult start to the season. All the teams have had time to analyse the data gathered in the first few races, although there is still a lot of work to be done, particularly in terms of reliability, as we saw at the end.

Ferrari has made progress, but at the moment it is still not quite enough to worry Mercedes and McLaren at race pace. Charles Leclerc in particular struck a problem in the end that cost him third place, while Lewis Hamilton seemed to me to be struggling slightly more.

It was a difficult weekend for George Russell too. Apart from not being at home with the track, I had the sense that he is feeling pressure from the growth of his teammate.

The circus now moves on to Canada, where everyone will bring further new developments. The season is still long but seeing Antonelli reach 100 points after only a few races is something that should make all Italian motorsport proud.

Gian Carlo Minardi