Kimi Antonelli on learning, winning and biggest lessons from F2

It was a mesmeric season by Kimi Antonelli as he was crowned the youngest Formula 1 World Champion in history in Mexico.

He also became the second driver to graduate from FIA Formula 2 to achieve a title at the pinnacle of the sport, following on from Lando Norris in 2025.

We spoke with Antonelli about his journey through the F2 Championship, from his favourite moments to his stand-out memories and what he learned the most in his single campaign.

“F2 was an extremely helpful year because, first of all, it was the last step before F1 and it was really good to be racing on the F1 weekends, getting used to different formats. So, I think, overall, F2 really helped me in terms of preparation and it was a really helpful year.

“The difficult thing about F2 is that you don't have a lot of track time. So what it really taught me is trying to find the limit very early on because with such a little track time you need to keep pushing, trying to maximise every session. That's the main thing.

“My favourite moment is definitely the win in Silverstone and the win in Budapest. I think they were very special moments.

“We were having a difficult time, but with the team, together, we were able to improve from the start of the year to then achieve some wins. So those were definitely my favourite moments.

“Off track – I was with PREMA from the start to the end. It was really cool to continue the journey with them from F4 to F2. We had a really good time as well away from track. So, I have fond memories of the team.

“Spending time with the engineers, did some fun activities with them, it was a very fun time. I always felt like at home when I was in PREMA.

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“It's really cool that so many drivers from F2 graduated into Formula 1 and it's good to see, it's good for the sport and it's good also for all the upcoming drivers that are racing in Formula 2.

“I think it's really cool and I'm really happy for all the other drivers who graduated and it's really cool to be sharing the track with them in F1 as well.

“In terms of advice for drivers there now, it’s an extremely competitive category. The level is very high and, at times it might be difficult. But, the only thing I can say is just to always keep pushing and always try to maximise every session.”