What does Formula 1‘s youngest and hottest star, Kimi Antonelli, have to do to win the World Drivers’ Championship? Just win races? Not exactly. While Mercedes’ prodigy is dominating this season, having won four consecutive races so far, it’s only a matter of time before bad luck strikes. At some point, there will be a crash, a blown engine, a mistake. And when it does, the 19-year-old Italian must be in the right mental space to process it and move on quickly—something which 2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg knows all too well.
I caught up with Rosberg in Miami, where the F1 champ-turned-investor was visiting for the Grand Prix and to promote Barilla’s new F1-themed pasta. Despite him and his wife enjoying a delicious dinner prepared by Chef Massimo Bottura, he was keen to pause that to talk to me about the talk of the town: Antonelli.
“Kimi is carrying his whole nation of Italy already on his shoulders now, and he has so many fans around the world because he’s so likable and authentic and young, but he needs to be careful,” Rosberg told The Drive. “He really just needs to switch everything off and concentrate on what he’s here to do, which is drive the car fast from one week to the next and not think about the championship at all. Just think about the next race and the next race.”
Rosberg believes crowning a 19-year-old F1 champion is totally possible. However, he strongly emphasized that Antonelli needs to guard his “frame of mind” and tune out all the noise so he can be 110% prepared to handle the pressure and adversity. He opened up about the relentless distraction machines that are social media and Netflix, and how they can ruin a driver’s concentration, especially when things get shaky with results and self-confidence. And how, despite all the benefits and all the attention and revenue it’s brought to the series, all media, marketing, and sponsorship commitments are ultimately burdens for the drivers.
“The entertainment aspect of F1 has increased a lot with social media and Netflix,” he said. “There’s a big extra dynamic there with all of that, which from the outside is great! From the inside, it’s not so great because it’s quite extreme. As a driver, you want to race cars, and now there’s a whole insane machine around that can sometimes be a bit much.”
“Of course, you appreciate the support, the fans. That’s also what pays for the insane salaries these drivers are getting now, so you can appreciate it from that point of view, but it can still be a bit much,” added Rosberg. “But it’s hard to make everybody happy; it’s really hard.”
Discovered at just 12 years old and hand-picked by Mercedes-AMG F1 supremo Toto Wolff to replace Lewis Hamilton only five years later, Antonelli’s life hasn’t exactly been average. From a very early age, he’s been subjected to tremendous pressure and commitments that would make most adults cry, all while living in a world that exposes him to the masses nearly every waking second.
In comparison, Rosberg was 31 years old when he beat Hamilton on equal machinery to become world champion in 2016. The second-gen racer has previously explained in detail the extremes he subjected himself to in order to remain focused, healthy, and free of anything that could disrupt that state of mind. With the evolution of media and the instant gratification that younger viewers demand today, things have only gotten worse since Rosberg retired—so much so that he believes repeating the same feat in 2026 would be considerably more difficult than it was back then.
“Yeah, it would definitely be harder. At the time, I was already switching everything off,” Rosberg told me. “I was just so locked in and just so focused, and I wouldn’t read social media. I had no news. I had no emails. I had nothing. Completely switched off. As hard as it is to do that, that’s what I recommend to Kimi, because otherwise, you go crazy at some point.”
When I asked him if Mercedes would even allow their star driver to escape most media duties and other distractions, Rosberg said it was “possible.”
“You can influence it, yeah. The easiest step is to delete Instagram from your phone,” he said. “Has he done that or not? I don’t know! But if he still has it on and he’s still looking, then that would not be a very good thing to do.
“So switch Instagram off. That’s a good start. Switch Twitter off. Switch all that stuff off—everything! Don’t read the news, and get yourself out of any of these kinds of conversations because it can drive you crazy otherwise. And maybe it’s easy for him now because he’s winning, but there are going to be difficult moments as well, where he’s going to crash, or something else happens because things inevitably happen to all of us. Or maybe he loses the championship lead, and then the questions and doubts start: ‘Oh, maybe he is too young,’ or whatever. All that rubbish, you know, and it’s hard to stay focused, so it’s very important to try and put some distance and switch off that side,” said Rosberg.
The reality is that every time I open Instagram, I see a new post featuring Antonelli. Whether it’s from the F1 team, Mercedes the automaker, or a sponsor—they just keep coming—it’s safe to assume that Antonelli has yet to tell his handlers to chill.
So, Kimi, if you’re reading this, please stay away from the internet and focus on becoming the youngest-ever F1 champion. Or, do the exact opposite and prove Nico wrong. Thanks.
Email the author at jerry@thedrive.com