Championship leader Antonelli reveals what Hamilton and Verstappen taught him at chaotic Malaysian GP

Kimi Antonelli credited Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton for sharpening his racecraft after finishing second at the Bahrain Grand Prix held at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, with the Mercedes teenager maintaining his lead at the top of the Formula 1 championship standings.

Verstappen won the race from pole, with Antonelli converting a third-place grid slot into second and Hamilton completing the podium in third. The event was already disrupted before a wheel had turned — a delay of one hour and 40 minutes due to heavy rainfall pushed back the start — and the chaos continued through multiple safety car restarts on a treacherous, drying circuit.

It was one of those restarts that provided Antonelli with his most instructive moment of the afternoon. Verstappen, on slick tyres, found grip and positioning that the 18-year-old simply could not match.

“Today was a really good showcase of how Max handled the restart on slick tyres and the slippery track,” Antonelli said in the post-race press conference. “He just knew much better how to position the car and had a better feeling for the grip in those first two corners and overtook me. So that was really good. Even though it was not nice to get overtaken — I was very annoyed with that — it was still a good way to learn from that and to use it in the future.”

The Italian also pointed to Hamilton’s composure under pressure as a quality he is actively trying to absorb. “With Lewis, I think we’ve seen many, many times, many years, that even when things go badly, he always keeps his head down and tries to do his best to achieve the best result possible,” he added.

Antonelli was candid about the privilege of sharing a grid with two of the sport’s most decorated drivers. “It’s always great to, first of all, be able to share the track, in this case with Max and Lewis, because they’re definitely rewriting… Well, Lewis basically did the history of the sport and Max is doing the same. So on my side, I try to learn as much as possible whenever I drive closely to them.”

The result in Malaysia extends a strong early-season run for Antonelli, who heads the drivers’ standings despite still being in his debut campaign with Mercedes. His ability to convert grid positions and extract lessons from adversity — even when those lessons arrive in the form of being overtaken — will be closely watched as the season develops.