Andrea Kimi Antonelli has entered Italian motorsport history by becoming the country’s youngest Formula 1 world champion at the age of 20. His achievement links him with Alberto Ascari, who won consecutive world titles in 1952 and 1953 and had remained Italy’s most recent Formula 1 champion until now.
Ascari, a Milan-born driver and the son of racing competitor Antonio Ascari, claimed both championships for Ferrari at the wheel of the 500 F2. His era was dramatically different from modern Formula 1. The 1952 season featured eight Grands Prix, while the 1953 calendar had nine, compared with today’s 23-race season. Ascari’s Ferrari produced between 165 and 200 horsepower, whereas Antonelli’s Mercedes W17 hybrid power unit delivers between 950 and 1,000 horsepower.
The contrast also extends to the way drivers and teams work. Ascari competed in a dangerous and largely hands-on period, when reliability was a central concern and safety standards were far below those of today. Modern drivers benefit from simulators, telemetry, video analysis, athletic preparation and structured development programmes.
Ascari had also raced motorcycles before concentrating on cars, following the passion for speed inherited from his father. In 1952, he won six of the season’s eight races, a record for the highest winning percentage in a Formula 1 season that stood for 71 years before Max Verstappen surpassed it in 2023.
Ascari survived almost unscathed after crashing into the waters of Monaco’s harbour in 1955 after hitting oil on the track. He died later that year, on May 26, while testing a Ferrari 750 Sport at Monza, despite having moved to Lancia after also racing for Maserati. He was 36, the same age at which his father died in a crash near Paris in 1925. The Monza corner where the fatal accident occurred was later named the Variante Ascari.
While Ascari won his titles with Ferrari in an era when drivers experienced the limits of their cars in a direct and physical way, Antonelli has emerged through a system that combines talent with data, technology and intensive preparation. The cars, circuits and methods have changed, but the passion for speed remains the connection between two Italian drivers who reached the highest level of motorsport 73 years apart.
Sources: ANSA Sport.