Antonelli has experienced both the highs of the F1 podium and the lows of a run of retirements in a difficult debut season.

But after a career-best P2 finish in Brazil, a weekend in which he impressed highly and finished each one of the Sprint weekend’s competitive sessions in second place, Verstappen offered some words of encouragement to the 19-year-old Italian.

Antonelli finished the Brazil GP just 0.362s ahead of pit lane-starting Verstappen, who he held off in the final laps of the race despite the advantage of fresher tyres.

The pair shared the podium together alongside Lando Norris

An impressive debut in Australia, finishing P4 in difficult wet conditions from just P16 on the grid, was followed by further early-season points in China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Miami. He even claimed pole position at the Sprint in Florida, in only his sixth event in F1.

Antonelli then hit a rough patch in the middle part of the season. Between Round 7 in Imola and Round 13 in Belgium, he scored only 15 points, courtesy of a debut podium in Canada.

It was a period that saw him retire from four races, including the Austrian GP where he outbraked himself into turn 3 on the opening lap to eliminate both himself and Verstappen from the race on the spot.

He appeared to bounce back strongly from criticism from Wolff at his home race in Italy with back-to-back P4 and P5 finishes in Azerbaijan and Singapore and news of a contract extension ahead of the United States GP a round later.

Strong form has continued as Antonelli has beaten Russell in the last two races in Mexico and Brazil.

Speaking after the Brazil GP podium, Antonelli said he is ‘very hopeful’ that Mercedes can continue their form into Las Vegas, a race the team won last year.

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