Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli has revealed the humorous message he received from his father after claiming victory at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old Mercedes driver celebrated an emotional triumph from pole position at Spa on his father's birthday weekend, extending his lead over Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton to 45 points in the drivers' standings.
While Marco Antonelli congratulated his son on the victory, he also had a playful warning about one aspect of his driving.
Father's warning after Spa success
Antonelli admitted his father was far from impressed by the number of times he exceeded track limits during the race, despite avoiding any costly penalties.
"One of the first things he told me after the race was congrats but, always a but, 'if I see you doing another track limit for nothing I'm going to stretch your neck like a chicken'," Antonelli told reporters ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
"Those were his words. So it's something I need to definitely work on."
The Italian acknowledged that he has a habit of using too much of the circuit and admitted the mistakes at Spa were unnecessary.
adell¹² 🍓@bearyantonelliwishing him a smooth session later🍀✨
"I mean, I look back at Spa and the two track limits I did were very stupid and I was like, 'what the heck am I doing?'"
"It's a bit like Barcelona as well and Miami. I just feel that it's something I need to work on for sure because sometimes in a race I might need to use them, but if I use them when I don't need to then I might find myself in trouble."
Russell backs teammate's title charge
Antonelli has enjoyed an outstanding campaign, winning six of the opening 10 races to establish a 50-point advantage over Mercedes teammate George Russell.
Russell has claimed two victories this season but endured a difficult Belgian Grand Prix after spinning into the gravel on the opening lap. He also suffered from a straight-line speed issue, although Mercedes believes it has now identified the cause.
Despite his own frustrations, the Briton praised Antonelli's performances.
"At the moment Kimi definitely deserves to be leading the championship," Russell said.
"He's done a better job than me this season. That's the facts of it.
"The last two weekends were challenging for me when maybe my performance is not where it needs to be.
"But then when there's something external hampering that as well, it's difficult to know where you put your attention to. So I'm hoping just for a cleaner weekend here."
