Kimi Antonelli can emulate Valentino Rossi as an Italian global racing ambassador after becoming the youngest ever Formula 1 world champion, his boss has said.

The 20-year-old, from the motorsport hotbed of Emilia-Romagna, finished third in Mexico City on Sunday but won his first Formula 1 title, becoming the youngest in history and the first Italian champion in over 70 years.

And Bradley Lord, his Mercedes team’s deputy team principal, believes Antonelli has the capacity to follow legendary biker Rossi, who won seven world championships in MotoGP.

New world champion

“He’s a hot property because he’s redefining a very big benchmark in terms of youngest world champion and not doing it by a couple of days or months, but by a couple of years,” Lord told City AM. 

“What we’re seeing with Kimi is unprecedented in the history of the sport. And on a sporting level, that’s an incredible achievement.

“We were lucky enough to work with Lewis [Hamilton] for many years. And what he has done for Formula 1 and the way in which he has transcended the sport, also by being willing to engage with topics and subjects that many sportspeople would naturally shy away from or be asked to shy away from, is potentially unique to Lewis.

“What Kimi and Lewis have in common is remarkable talent and, by pure coincidence, an affinity to [Ayrton] Senna as well. If we look at MotoGP, for example, and the following with the success Valentino Rossi was able to hold on to; we can see that the Italian nation is more than able to take a hero to its heart and from there propel them into global standing. 

“First and foremost, any future success for Kimi will [stem from] performance. That’s what anchored Lewis, that’s what has anchored Rossi. That’s what anchors any great global sportsperson, is that first and foremost they perform and everything flows from there.”

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen and seven-time winner Hamilton shared the podium with Antonelli – who replaced the 41-year-old Brit when he left Mercedes for Ferrari – and lifted the newly-crowned champion onto their shoulders in celebration.

Antonelli the king of Italy?

The success for Mercedes – recently valued at over $6bn after a minority stake sale – comes ahead of the team’s latest accounts, which are set to reap revenues of $1bn; a major and rare milestone for any sporting outfit.

“In terms of marketability,” Lord added, “Kimi’s on a very, very steep upslope at the moment, and we can see that Italy, in particular, his home market, where a lot of that interest originates and is driven from, is waking up to the phenomenon that is Kimi Antonelli and getting very, very excited about it.

“But also, Kimi’s nature, his personality, his character is so authentic and open and genuine that his appeal reaches far beyond Italy. And particularly coming into North America and then South America next week with Brazil, I think we’re going to see that he is connected far beyond the borders of his home nation.

“His priority, our priority will be protecting that performance at all costs, and then from there seeing how his popularity, his global recognition grows. But first and foremost, go fast in a racing car.”