Montezemolo regrets Ferrari missed out on Kimi Antonelli: “I’m sorry he’s driving for Mercedes”. Luca di Montezemolo praises Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s growth and performance.

After the opening rounds across Asia, Andrea Kimi Antonelli returned to a track he knows well, having raced there both in testing and in the junior formulas. And his “experience” began to show, as last Saturday he achieved his best qualifying result so far, placing his Mercedes in fourth position; however, the stewards later handed him a one-place grid penalty because his team had made a mistake with the restart procedures in Q2.

Watching him closely, though from a different garage, was a fellow Italian, former Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, who did not hold back his praise for the young driver in an interview with Sky: “He’s a top-class young man. It’s his first year in Formula 1, he doesn’t make mistakes, he’s fast, and I see him growing. And for me, he has a crucial advantage – he’s from Bologna. I’m sorry he’s in a Mercedes. I would have sent him to Sauber for a couple of years and then brought him in. But Toto was smart to see his potential, spot him, and bring him up, just like McLaren once did with Lewis Hamilton.” Luca Cordero di Montezemolo pointed out ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.