Kimi Antonelli makes hilarious admission about breaking Sebastian Vettel F1 record

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has admitted to not remembering a Sebastian Vettel F1 record he could break this weekend.

In just his second season in F1, Antonelli could be crowned champion at round 18 this weekend at the US Grand Prix in Austin. His chances of wrapping it up this weekend are slim, as he needs to out-score George Russell by 23 points, but the Italian would break the Vettel record in question this season regardless of where the title is won.

In 2010, then Red Bull driver Vettel set the record for the youngest driver to win an F1 world title at the age of 23. 16 years later Antonelli could beat that mark by three years.

Antonelli was asked about this during the pre-event press conference in Austin, but admitted he can’t remember watching Vettel win the title back in 2010, because he was only four-years-old himself.

“I don't remember that,” said Kimi Antonelli, as reported by Motorsport.com.

“I was four-years-old. I'm sorry. I remember I was playing with Hot Wheels, but I don't remember him clinching [the title].

“Later on, when I grew up, I saw the race, which was crazy as well because it was a very close title fight between all of you guys [Lewis Hamilton, who was also in the press conference; Mark Webber; Fernando Alonso; and Vettel].”

Antonelli added that he is trying to approach this weekend in Austin, which is his first mathematical title chance, with the same “mindset” as previous races.

“I'm in an incredible position, but definitely this year, with how things went and how I felt in the car during the weekends and also with the momentum, I thought that I could have had a chance this year to fight,” he said.

“Luckily, I'm in a very good position right now.

“But I've still got to keep going, and the mindset is always the same, which is whenever I go on track to be at the top and to try and win as much as possible. 

“Whether I win the championship, whether I win it this weekend or next weekend, or in Brazil, let's see.”

Antonelli’s Friday in Austin was complicated by a loose seat in his Mercedes at the start of FP2 that cost him around 15 minutes of track time, but he showed good speed after that to finish second-fastest behind Charles Leclerc who topped both Friday practices in his upgraded Ferrari.