Antonelli's four-win streak draws comparisons to young Hamilton and Vettel

Kimi Antonelli has drawn comparisons to two of Formula 1’s greatest champions after the 19-year-old opened the 2026 season by winning his first four consecutive races — a feat no driver had previously achieved — and stretching his championship lead to 43 points over Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

Former F1 broadcaster Will Buxton made the comparison on the Up To Speed podcast, drawing parallels between Antonelli’s current form and the early careers of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

“He reminds me a lot of a young Lewis back in ‘08 or a young Seb when he first came into the sport,” Buxton said. “Lewis, in his first season, was fighting for a world championship. There was still the rawness of the GP2 champion in Lewis in that first year, and Fernando [Alonso] wasn’t ready for that because Fernando thought, ‘Oh, here’s this young kid and I’ll easily be able to dominate him.’”

Buton described how Hamilton would push beyond conventional limits and recover — a quality he now sees in Antonelli. “Lewis was taking very low-percentage moments and making them work just on that inherent skill, going over the limit, but somehow catching it, somehow bringing it back, and those moments were enthralling.”

He drew a similar parallel with Vettel’s early aggression, referencing Mark Webber’s frustration after being taken out by his Red Bull team-mate at the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix. “Webber used to get really upset,” Buxton recalled. “‘It’s just young kids who f*** it all up.’ And you saw with Lewis, and you saw with Seb, these two guys who were going to be champions. It was just that rawness to their racecraft that was an absolute joy to watch.”

Antonelli’s victories in China, Japan, Miami and Canada have come in only his second season in Formula 1, having stepped up to replace Hamilton at Mercedes when the seven-time champion moved to Ferrari ahead of the 2025 campaign.

The Canadian Grand Prix also brought the first visible tension between Antonelli and Russell. Antonelli accused his team-mate of pushing him off the circuit during the sprint race, though Mercedes resolved the dispute internally. The grand prix itself produced a close battle between the pair before Russell retired with a battery failure.

Buxton urged caution over the narrative that team principal Toto Wolff would move to restrict their on-track rivalry. “The headlines are like, ‘Oh, Toto says he’s going to stop the two of them racing,’ but actually when you dive down into it, it’s really interesting” — suggesting the situation is more nuanced than the immediate reaction implied.

With five rounds complete and Antonelli 43 points clear at the top of the standings, the comparison to Hamilton’s 2007 debut season — when the then-rookie pushed Fernando Alonso to the final race — is one the paddock will be watching closely as the 2026 campaign develops.