George Russell handed £150k Kimi Antonelli reality check | F1 | Sport

Having won two of the first three races of the new Formula 1 season to leapfrog team-mate George Russell into top spot in the drivers’ standings, Kimi Antonelli has become a sudden superstar. The hype around him has been huge ever since he was promoted into F1 as an 18-year-old by Mercedes, but in recent weeks he has begun to truly deliver.

And it appears some of those with deep pockets are getting on board the Antonelli hype train. His popularity is already such that one wealthy collector has just splashed out almost £150,000 on a unique piece of memorabilia bearing the Italian teenager’s signature.

An encased Topps trading card, signed by Antonelli in blue ink and bearing a patch taken from a pair of his race-used gloves, specifically showing a watch face from Mercedes sponsors IWC Schaffhausen, was placed on auction site Goldin on March 19, just days after he won the Chinese Grand Prix to become only the second teenager in history to win an F1 race. Within 12 hours, the bidding for the 1/1 collectable was already above £21,400.

The auction ended on Sunday with a bidder swooping in with minutes to spare with a winning offer of £121,878. With fees, the buyer’s total outlay reached £149,135. Unsurprisingly, given he is still a relative newcomer to F1, it is the most expensive Antonelli trading card ever sold.

More shocking, though, was confirmation from Topps that it is the seventh-most expensive F1 card ever sold. It is an indication of what fans believe Antonelli is capable of going on to achieve in the sport, with the buyer in particular betting big that the young Italian’s stock will continue to rise in the years to come. For Mercedes, it is a valuable insight into just how marketable their emerging young talent can go on to be for them.

And it should serve as a reminder to Russell of the quality of the competition he faces within his own team for the title this year. Mercedes have been dominant in the early rounds but, while the Brit was the pre-season favourite given his vast F1 experience compared to that of his young team-mate, it is Antonelli who has stolen an early march.

He said on the F1 Nation podcast: “Right from the drop now, George has to be a little bit more cut-throat… They’ve got to play that game. If you look at George’s season last year, how consistent he was, how good he was at maximising on a weekend. China was still a little bit… There were issues on George’s side that contributed to it. Kimi still hasn’t got off the line well, once in four cracks at it.

“So there are still things in his game that need to improve, whereas I think George is already at such a high level, which you would come to expect at someone in their eighth season versus their second.”