Five Stats from Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes’ Chinese Grand Prix Victory

The 19-year-old’s maiden Grand Prix victory was always a matter of “when” rather than “if.”

(Image credit to Mercedes AMG F1 Media Centre)

1. Kimi Antonelli takes the first victory for an Italian driver since 2006, before he was even born.

Antonelli becomes Italy’s first new Grand Prix winner since 2004 (Jarno Trulli in Monaco) and takes Italy’s first win in F1 for a driver since Giancarlo Fisichella in 2006, when he beat Fernando Alonso (his teammate) and Jenson Button (a British driver). This parallels this weekend, as Antonelli beat George Russell (his teammate) and Lewis Hamilton (a British driver). This was before Antonelli was even born, as he was born in August later that year.

2. Antonelli becomes the second driver to take a maiden win in Shanghai - the previous was Nico Rosberg in 2012 (also with Mercedes)

There were quite a few similarities with 2012’s edition of the Chinese Grand Prix. First of all, Mercedes locked out the front row, and second of all, the less experienced of the two drivers, the son of another racing driver, won for the first time in F1. In 2012, it was Nico Rosberg, son of ex-F1 champion Keke Rosberg, while this year it was Kimi Antonelli, son of ex-GT racer owner and now team owner Marco Antonelli. 

3. Antonelli becomes Italy’s 16th Grand Prix winner

With the win, Antonelli joins a prestigious list of Italian race winners, which includes two F1 champions in Giuseppe Farina and Alberto Ascari, and icons like Luigi Fagioli and Elio de Angelis. He became Italy’s 16th Grand Prix-winning driver on Sunday.

Of those 16, only Farina, Ascari, and Fagioli contended for titles, but the likes of Patrese and Alboreto took several wins in successful careers. 

4. First Italian to win a championship Grand Prix for a German team since the 1935 Monaco Grand Prix (Luigi Fagioli for Daimler-Benz)

Speaking of Fagioli, Antonelli is the first Italian to win for a German team in a championship Grand Prix since 1935, when Fagioli, the “Abruzzi Robber,” won the Monaco Grand Prix. That was for Daimler-Benz, the predecessor of Mercedes. Funnily enough, the other two big teams back then were an Alfa Romeo team run by a certain Enzo Ferrari and Auto Union, who are now in F1 under their modern name of Audi. 

5. Mercedes has its 240th win as an engine supplier

Despite being out of the sport from 1950-1953 and again from 1955-1994. Antonelli joins an illustrious list of drivers to have won with a Mercedes engine - Hamilton, Lando Norris, Rosberg, Button, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Mika Hakkinen, and Juan Manuel Fangio are just a few of the names. Those are just the world champions to have taken victory in a Mercedes-powered machine, forgetting the likes of Stirling Moss, Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard, Juan Pablo Montoya, and the current Cadillac duo of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

Article written by Liam Ploetner