A first season in Formula 1 can tell a driver a lot about what the sport demands. For Kimi Antonelli, 2025 brought strong results alongside mistakes, retirements and difficult weekends, all while he was finding his feet within the sport.

A year on, in the middle of Formula 1’s summer break, he leads the World Championship; six Grand Prix victories in, and a third place podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The results point to a striking change. But the more interesting shift is what happened between the two seasons: how Antonelli learned from the difficult moments of his rookie year and turned those experiences into a different way of approaching the demands of Formula 1.

A Season of Learning

His 2025 season began with points on his Formula 1 debut, finishing fourth at the Australian Grand Prix. Within two months, Antonelli had also become the sport’s youngest pole-sitter, race leader and fastest-lap holder, setting all three records before his 19th birthday. The results offered an early indication of his pace. The rest of the season revealed how much more there was to learn.

There were challenging moments too. His Austrian Grand Prix ended in a collision with Max Verstappen on the opening lap, while a failed attempt to pass Charles Leclerc at Zandvoort sent him down the order and resulted in two penalties. By the end of the season, Antonelli had finished seventh in the Drivers’ Championship.

Looking back on his rookie season earlier in 2026, Antonelli described it as a season of “ups and downs”. He was also candid about how the pressure affected him while trying to establish himself at the highest level.

“I let the pressure kind of destroy me.”– Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Driver (Formula 1)

The comment points to a part of his first season that the results alone cannot show. Alongside learning the demands of Formula 1, Antonelli was also learning how to manage its expectations, setbacks and scrutiny. Reflecting on the season, Antonelli acknowledged how much he had taken from those difficult periods.

“Despite the difficult moments, I have to say I’ve learned massively, and I grew up a lot as a person and I matured a lot.” — Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Driver (Formula 1)

The value of 2025, then, was not in the mistakes themselves but in what they revealed. Antonelli had a season in which he could see where pressure affected his performance and what he needed to manage differently. By the time he returned for his second year, those situations were no longer entirely unfamiliar.

That experience provides an important context for the contrast between the two seasons. Antonelli returned for 2026 with a clearer understanding of what Formula 1 demanded, and crucially, what he needed to do when those demands became difficult to manage.

The Shift in 2026

The difference in Antonelli was not simply that the results had changed. It was visible in how he responded when things did not go to plan. He returned for 2026 with a year of Formula 1 experience behind him. He had experienced the consequences of mistakes, the pressure of expectations and what it took to recover from a difficult period. Antonelli described the difference in terms of control.

“I feel more in control of the situation.”— Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Driver (Formula 1)

That is significant because control is built through experience. Antonelli had already seen how quickly a mistake could affect his confidence and performance in 2025. A year later, those experiences gave him a reference point for dealing with similar situations.

The change is also reflected in how he now talks about self-doubt. During the difficult period of his first season, he acknowledged that he had questioned himself. In 2026, he described that experience differently.

“I was doubting myself a lot, but now it’s a different story.”— Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Driver (Formula 1)

The difference, then, is not that Antonelli stopped making mistakes or that Formula 1 became easier. It is that he had more experience to draw on when things became difficult. His first season showed him where his weaknesses were; his second has given him an opportunity to apply what he learned.

That helps explain the gap between seventh in the 2025 championship and leading the standings in 2026. The improvement is visible in the results, but the more important change is in the process behind them. Antonelli did not need to erase his first season to move forward from it. The mistakes, difficult weekends and periods of doubt gave him lessons he could carry into his second year.

The Foundation, Not The Obstacle

That is the more important gap between Antonelli’s two seasons. The mistakes gave him something to recognise. The difficult races gave him something to work on. The moments when the pressure got the better of him gave him a clearer picture of what he needed to change.

That process is still visible now. The second season has not been built on becoming a completely different driver. It has been built on becoming more deliberate with the driver he already was.

That may be the most important lesson in Antonelli’s rise to the top of the championship: development does not always look like leaving your difficult seasons behind. Sometimes it looks like learning how to use them.