In the space of two weeks, news of the exploits of Formula One's new phenomenon has been ricocheting from China and Japan: a nineteen-year-old from Romagna who was "spared" in San Marino to pass the theory and practical driving tests and then went on to lead the championship, 73 years after Alberto "Ciccio" Ascari. Imagine Vasco behind the wheel of his electric car in Castellaneta Marina, with Kimi at his side and fellow child prodigy Jannik Sinner in the back seat.
By now, everything is known about Kimi Antonelli. Or almost.
It is known, for example, that at the end of January 2025, before flying to Melbourne where the Formula One season was about to begin, the Emilian boy had to take—like all Christians (and not only...)—the theory and driving tests to obtain his license. Born on August 25, 2006, he was 18 and a half years old. In his first test, he failed a quiz on car parking lights. And during the driving test in a manual transmission car, climbing towards the Borgo di San Marino (where he lives), the boy betrayed a certain nervousness, so much so that near Murata, one of the 43 hamlets into which the 9 Castles of the Ancient Republic are scattered, despite the reassuring words of an instructor entirely dedicated to him, Kimi overtook without using his left indicator to signal his move to potential... pursuers.
We know those roads well for a variety of reasons. And we know full well that they would never have denied him the magical recognition of being allowed to drive cars or motorcycles anywhere in the world (or almost). It's too intriguing for the Republic to include figures of that caliber to allow anyone to stand in the way of a Grand Prix driver, even if he's a Mercedes driver and not a Ferrara driver, as his roots, fascination, and love for the motors that flow so powerfully across the Marche and Romagna regions as if they were in Maranello would dictate!
It is well known that Kimi and Jannik respect each other, and so the former sent shivers down the latter's spine during an almost casual outing with Antonelli at the wheel and Sinner sitting next to him: one with his helmet firmly on and the other with his hair blowing in the wind.
Finally, we know that Vasco Rossi was truly moved, as he hadn't been in a long time, watching him speed by first in the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai and then two weeks later at Suzuka in the triumphant "repeat" in Japan. The rock star dedicated one of the most iconic songs of his career to him—"Vado al massimo"—invited him to a concert, and asked him to take him for a ride... jealous of Sinner? Yep.
Since daydreaming costs nothing, just like dreaming with your eyes closed, we end up dreaming of Vasco driving his toy car around the golf courses he owns full-time in the huge village of Castellaneta Marina, in Puglia overlooking the Ionian Sea, where the rock star regenerates for weeks and weeks between tours: Rossi piloting the tiny electric vehicle with Antonelli at his side and Sinner perched in the back seat…
Pure fantasy.
Since Asia is practically all Kimi's, with Japan conquered after China, it's worth rewinding the most exciting March for Italians who follow F1 (and not only them): even though he migrated to San Marino, Antonelli is capable of arousing the same passions as Sinner, who settled in the Principality of Monaco and is also an expatriate in his own right, but remains a de facto national pride of the Italian nation.
Could it be a coincidence that on Sunday, March 29, 2026, the two shared the headlines for their triumphs in Suzuka and Miami (Florida, USA), respectively, just hours apart? No. Their destinies run parallel, even if one grew up on tagliatelle with meat sauce and the other on buttered dumplings, or knodel, as you might call them.
Both rose to the top of their respective worlds at a very young age. Kimi won his first Grand Prix at 19 years, 6 months, and 18 days… a year and a half after obtaining his San Marino driving license. Italy had been waiting for Giancarlo Fisichella's successor for twenty years. This meant that Kimi hadn't even been born when the Roman driver raced in Sepang, Malaysia, ahead of his teammate Fernando Alonso, with whom he would also bring Renault a second consecutive constructors' title thanks to the R25.
Fisichella will be 53 in 2026. Antonelli turns 20 in August, the year he becomes a Formula One idol, and as a teenager he enjoys the lead in the drivers' championship, achieved at 19 years, 7 months, and 4 days, as well as winning two races in a row, 73 years after the exploits of Alberto “Ciccio” Ascari, who dominated with Ferrari in 1952 and 1953.
Early champions are phenomena that remain in everyone's mind.
Precocious like Nadia Elena Comaneci, Romanian, born in 1991, who astonished the world at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics by winning the first four gold medals of her gymnastics career. The record stands because the entry age was subsequently set at 16.
Precocious like Donna De Varona, an American swimmer from San Diego, California, who at the age of 17 won the 400-meter medley and 4x100-meter relay at Tokyo 1964, and who subsequently regularly made headlines as the older sister of actress Joanna Kerns, who starred as Maggie Seaver in the series "Growing Pains." We first met them arm in arm at the Los Angeles Games, where Donna was a television commentator for ABC, which holds the production and broadcast rights.
And for Inter fans, like… Patrick Kluivert and Nwankwo Kanu, both eighteen, who led Ajax to triumph in the 1995 Champions League final over hapless (!) AC Milan. An unfortunate quote? Dear cousins, get over it. Other times, things have gone better.
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