The statistics that suggest Kimi Antonelli is certain of F1 title glory

The 19-year-old Italian is looking to become the youngest drivers' champion in history, a record that has stood since Sebastian Vettel was crowned back in 2010 at the age of 23 years and 133 days.

Not many gave him a chance against George Russell at the start of the season, after he was dominated by the experienced British driver during his maiden F1 campaign in 2025. However, Antonelli with the help of F1's quickest car, has rose to the occasion and marked himself as the man to beat.

After his recent string of wins, Antonelli now holds a 66 point lead at the top of the drivers' standings. No driver in F1 history has held a lead that comfortable and not gone on to be crowned champion at the end of the season.

The biggest comeback was in 2022 when Max Verstappen overcame a 46 point gap to Charles Leclerc to win his second drivers' crown. Meanwhile, in 2012, Sebastian Vettel came from 44 points behind to beat Fernando Alonso to his third title.

The good news for Antonelli's competition is that only six of the 22 scheduled races have played out, meaning there is plenty of time to catch up. Max Verstappen, from a later point of the season, finished just two points behind eventual champion Lando Norris, after being 104 points behind previous championship leader Oscar Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August.

Antonelli moved up to joint-eighth on the list of drivers with the most consecutive race wins in F1 history. This weekend, the Italian could tie Michael Schumacher's second all-time best record of six straight wins, which the legendary German accomplished between the 2000 Italian Grand Prix and the 2001 Malaysian GP.

No driver to achieve at least five straight wins, has failed to win the championship in the year that they finished off that sequence of victories. The only driver who failed to do so with four straight wins was Lewis Hamilton during the 2016 season against Nico Rosberg.

The only drivers standing ahead of Antonelli with the most consecutive wins are Max Verstappen (10), Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen again (9), Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg (7), and Schumacher again on (6). The closest any of those drivers came to losing the championship in their respective seasons was Rosberg in 2016, beating Hamilton to the crown by just five points.

Antonelli is the only driver in F1 history to win their first five victories consecutively. He matched the record of three consecutive wins set by Damon Hill in 1993 and Mika Hakkinen in 1997-98, and now stands by himself after two further victories.

Meanwhile, his three consecutive poles in China, Japan and Miami, put him alongside Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna as the only drivers to take their first three poles consecutively.

Schumacher, Senna, Hakkinen and Hill all became world champions during their careers, and it looks that Antonelli is certain to join that list, regardless of whether it takes place this season.

His teammate Russell is still likely his most competitive challenger, despite dropping behind Hamilton to third in the championship. Russell can take inspiration from Lando Norris, who came from 34 points behind after Round 15 to win the 2025 championship.

Antonelli will sit out FP1 in Barcelona this weekend, which could give Russell a small advantage going into the race on Sunday. Russell though can take some form of hope that there is still 16 races left this season, plenty of chance to mount a fightback, but his chances are getting slimmer by the race.