Antonelli reveals why his dad threatened to “stretch your neck like a chicken” after Belgian GP victory

The Italian delivered an excellent drive to win the race from pole position, overtaking Charles Leclerc after the Ferrari driver gained an advantage by pitting under the virtual safety car.

Antonelli did put unnecessary pressure on himself however with two track limit warnings. A third would have resulted in him being shown a black and white flag and a fourth would have seen him receive a five second penalty that would have dropped him to second.

He previously received five-second penalties for track limits in Barcelona and the Miami Sprint Race, although he did not serve the penalty at the former as he retired from the race anyway.

Speaking ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Antonelli was asked about comments from his father to Sky Italy, where he criticised his son for breaching track limits. The championship leader said: "I guess you guys know I like to use the track sometimes a bit too much. So it's something that I'm trying to work on. I look back at Spa and the two track limits, it was very stupid. I was like "what the heck am I doing". But it's a bit like Barcelona as well and Miami.

Antonelli was cautious about claiming that he is the best, but believes he belongs among the very best so far in the 2026 season.

The championship leader was asked by GPblog about whether he has been the best driver across the opening half of the season, after building a 45 point lead at the top of the standings.

He said: "It's so hard to say. I think I've been one of the best, but I wouldn't say I've been the best driver on the grid. But to be fair, if I look back, I think we were the ones doing the least amount of mistakes, and that’s I think what brought us here now allowed us to get good results."