Just like Clark – Antonelli keeps his promise with iconic thumbs-up celebration

Melbourne, Australia. Kimi Antonelli has arranged to meet us at an Italian restaurant that has become a hotspot for F1’s ample Italian-speaking community. At the next table is Franco Colapinto sharing a meal with some Argentinian friends. They catch up about motorsport, expectations for a world championship that is about to begin.

Kimi looks ravenous in more ways than one. Keen to tuck into the delicious Emilian cuisine that sets the benchmark in Melbourne, but also hungry to capitalise on Mercedes’s shiny new W17 – a car that looks capable of making his hopes and dreams come true.

He may only be 19 but make no mistake about it. This is a lad who has grown up living and breathing racing since he was an infant. It’s hard to catch him off guard discussing some of the greats of motor racing, regardless of the category.

Given Mercedes’s favourite status, our conversation soon turns to success. Podiums, trophies, celebrations. “If you win one of the first two races, you have to celebrate like Jim Clark,” we suggest.

“What’s that about?” We’ve piqued Kimi’s curiosity, as this is one bit of F1 folklore he’s not aware of, and we show him the iconic photo of Jim Clark crossing the finish line at the 1967 United States Grand Prix. As he won the race at Watkins Glen, Clark gave a thumbs-up to the flag-waver.

Meanwhile, the Scotsman’s right-rear wheel is all but hanging off after the top link of his Lotus 49’s suspension broke with two laps to go. It was a miracle Clark managed to coast to the finish at all. The ice cool thumbs-up celebration is an image that has gone down in history.

“Okay,” Antonelli grins. “I like the idea. If I win one of the first two races, I’ll do it.”

In Australia, Antonelli settles for second behind team-mate George Russell; then it was off to China, and by Sunday that promise over an Italian meal had been all but forgotten. Forgotten by us, at least. But not by Kimi.

With Antonelli leading the race from pole, Italy was anxiously counting down the laps to greet its latest grand prix winner. A hair-raising lock-up in the hairpin in the closing laps injected a jolt of adrenaline into the Mercedes garage – perhaps akin to what the great Colin Chapman must have felt when he saw Clark wheeze past with three functioning wheels. But Antonelli brought the car home and came out of Shanghai’s final corner as the second-youngest grand prix winner in history.

Antonelli crossed the chequered flag, and duly raised his thumb.

“Did you see that? You thought I’d forgotten, didn’t you?” Kimi laughed as we caught up with him after the race.

Indeed we did. Despite all the excitement and emotions coursing through Kimi’s veins as he took his breakthrough win, he was the only one who remembered the promise he’d made over a week earlier.

“I kept my word, and now we can say it… it was a good omen.”

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– The Autosport.com Team