Formula 1 Chinese GP
David Croft issues Kimi Antonelli title warning after Chinese Grand Prix win
David Croft has warned against putting title pressure on Kimi Antonelli after the Mercedes driver's maiden Formula 1 win in China
Lydia Mee
Published: Mar 22, 2026, 2:28 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Sky Sports Formula 1 commentator David Croft has argued that no one should be putting pressure on Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli for the drivers' championship.
The Italian driver claimed his maiden F1 win at the Chinese Grand Prix, fending off his Mercedes team-mate George Russell and the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Since his victory, the 19-year-old has been at the centre of discussions about the 2026 drivers' championship. As it stands, after the first two rounds of the season, Antonelli sits four points behind Russell, who leads the championship. But Croft claimed during the Sky Sports F1 Show that the pressure of the drivers' championship should not be put on the young driver.
"I can't believe you're putting pressure on Kimi Antonelli for the title right now," Croft said to co-host Simon Lazenby.
He continued: "Nobody should be putting him under that sort of pressure. Championships are won over the course of 22 rounds this year. Consistency. He's up against the only driver last year who got to the chequered flag at every single race.
"And George, as Ant [Anthony Davidson] said, he's on the top of his game. But he will keep George very honest throughout this season. He has immense speed. He has brilliant capability. He will make mistakes.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
"We saw that last year. Not just with Max [Verstappen] when he was that age, but we saw that with Oscar last year against Lando and the difference there, a driver in his seventh season as opposed to a driver in his third season.
"So, you can see what experience does, but I think he's in the right team. He's in a Mercedes team that will nurture him, and he's got the people around him that will nurture him as well.
"And there will be a great clamour for him now to go right out there and beat George week after week after week. And I don't see that happening just yet. If it does, he is better than we actually think. But he's just got to take every race as it comes."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Cadillac’s unexpected April F1 break will be “quite beneficial”
Next article Every race engineer in F1 2026
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lydia Mee
Laurent Mekies credited with ending Red Bull's second seat "curse"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Laurent Mekies credited with ending Red Bull's second seat "curse"
Guenther Steiner jokes Christian Horner Ferrari talk is good book publicity
Formula 1
Formula 1
Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Guenther Steiner jokes Christian Horner Ferrari talk is good book publicity
Kimi Antonelli has "spooked himself" amid F1 title pressure, says Naomi Schiff
Formula 1
Formula 1
Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Kimi Antonelli has "spooked himself" amid F1 title pressure, says Naomi Schiff
More from
Mercedes
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
George Russell calls Red Bull "the team to beat" in F1, but Kimi Antonelli adds a key caveat
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
George Russell calls Red Bull "the team to beat" in F1, but Kimi Antonelli adds a key caveat
Latest news
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
41 min
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 1 h
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 2 h
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 3 h
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe