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Andrea Kimi Antonelli has won four races in a row and leads the championship by 43 points. Martin Brundle watched Sunday's race in Canada and came away with a specific observation about a moment in the final lap that told him something important about the 19-year-old he was watching.
A Statement Made in the Last Lap
Antonelli won the Canadian Grand Prix with Russell eventually retiring with power unit problems, Hamilton a comfortable second, and Verstappen on the podium. With victory already secured and no threat behind him, Antonelli set the fastest lap of the race in the very last round.
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Brundle picked up on it immediately. "Antonelli set the fastest lap of the entire race on the final lap. That felt very Verstappen-like. As if he just wanted to show that there was actually more speed in reserve."
The comparison is a specific one. Verstappen has made a habit throughout his career of adding a fastest lap or a late charging stint to a race that was already decided, communicating to the rest of the field that the margin of victory understated the margin of advantage. Antonelli did the same thing in Canada, and the instinct behind it reads identically.
A 43-Point Lead That Could Become Historic
Brundle was careful not to declare the championship settled. "43 points is of course a significant gap, that is starting to approach two Grand Prix victories. But there is still an enormously long season ahead. George also knows that what happens today can look completely different tomorrow." The caution is warranted. The gap between Norris and Piastri at the same point last season was smaller than this, and Norris still had to fight hard to hold on.
The longer context is striking. If Antonelli holds his current lead through to the end of the season, he would become the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history. That record currently belongs to Sebastian Vettel.
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