LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Kimi Antonelli is a phenomenon, on course to become Formula One's youngest world champion at 20 years old, but Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff sees the Italian also as flagbearer for a new generation better equipped than ever for success.
Asked at Monza if he saw the 2026 cars, with their increased electric element and characteristics that demand new ways of driving, as a factor in Antonelli's meteoric rise as a rare talent, Wolff recognised that was an interesting point.
"This is a generation that's coming up that is better prepared than the generation before," he said.
"Simulators have become much more than a toy. You can see that all the people once they drive simulators, they drive all kinds of cars - rally cars, sportscars, GT cars.
"So that's an additional tool that this generation of drivers have," added the Austrian, who compared Antonelli to a continuously self-improving AI agent such was his capacity to learn and absorb.
"I think if you put a five or six-year-old in a simulator, you teach them cognitive abilities. Or they learn cognitive abilities without doing it actively.
"I think that's why they come into Formula One at that age with so much more bandwidth. Everything goes in slow motion because they are doing this every day, day in and day out ... and the next one is probably going to have another layer on top."
SPAGHETTI FROM A SILVER TROPHY
Antonelli's teammate George Russell, the pre-season favourite who has found the end of one era and start of another to be a tough transition, is 28 and from the same generation as McLaren's world champion Lando Norris and Red Bull's four-times champion Max Verstappen.
Norris and Verstappen are keen gamers and simulator drivers, with Verstappen also taking part in endurance racing.
Britain's Arvid Lindblad, the only rookie on the grid this season, is 19 and of Antonelli's generation. With Racing Bulls he has scored in eight of 13 races.
Antonelli's stunning home win from 19th on the grid at Monza on Sunday revived memories of comeback wins of old and drew immediate comparisons with some of the greats of the sport, Ayrton Senna included, and brought scenes of jubilation despite Ferrari having a bad day.
In the past Ferrari have always been the big draw for the fans, whose loyalties lay primarily with the national team and in the past perfectly aligned with a winner like seven-times champion Michael Schumacher racing in their red colours.
It will take a lot to change that, but having a world champion Italian -- and Antonelli is now 66 points clear of Russell -- would be new territory for almost all those present on Sunday as the first since 1953.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sent a congratulatory message, the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper devoted its first 15 pages to Antonelli's exploits and the youngster's beaming face was everywhere, even eating spaghetti from the bowl of the shining silver trophy (and declaring it not as good as his grandmother's).
To say that Italy has waited a long time for such a moment would be an understatement.
Antonelli, the son of a racer, is the only living Italian to know how it feels to be a grand prix winner at Monza, the first to do so since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966 and just the fourth since the championship started in 1950.
The other two Italian winners at Monza were Giuseppe Farina (1950) and Alberto Ascari (1951 and 1952)
Antonelli was already the first Italian in 73 years to lead the championship to the 'Temple of Motorsport" and he left as the youngest Italian Grand Prix winner and first to win seven championship grands prix in a season.
Only one driver in history had ever won from further back on the grid -- Britain's John Watson who took the 1983 U.S. Grand Prix West at Long Beach, California for McLaren from 22nd position.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Ken Ferris)
