Mercedes’ 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli is still the clear favourite to become this year’s world champion despite being in only his second season in Formula 1, and it is indeed in effect his to lose, with a now 88 point lead over his second-placed teammate George Russell. However, the charismatic young Italian is rightly looking to avoid any talk of a potential title, preferring to simply discuss each individual race weekend as it comes.

Antonelli and his team are well aware of what happened only last year when, following the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri headed to the next race in Azerbaijan with a 31 point lead over his second-placed teammate, Lando Norris, and a massive 94 point one over Max Verstappen in third. However, Piastri’s form then dipped, and it all went down to a title decider at the last round in Abu Dhabi, with Norris emerging on top, just two points clear of Verstappen, and with Piastri languishing to their rear in third place.

Appeals about the result of this year’s Monaco Grand Prix have continued to make headlines within the Formula 1 world, and now we have a further case on the agenda. This follows an appeal lodged with the FIA governing body by the Audi team about the result of last weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza. It centres on the fact that Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda created a need for a second formation lap ahead of the race restart after lining up incorrectly on the grid, but the Japanese driver went unpunished by the race director and stewards despite the F1 regulations stating that any driver who causes an additional formation lap must then start from the pitlane.

Tsunoda finished the Grand Prix in 10th position, earning the final point on offer, ahead of Audi’s 11th-placed Gabriel Bortoleto, and Audi is clearly hoping that, if Tsunoda is punished belatedly, Bortoleto might be promoted to 10th and take the related point for both himself and his team.



Meanwhile, the 45-year-old Spanish driver, Fernando Alonso, declared in Madrid that he is not in a hurry to decide whether to carry on racing in Formula 1 next season, as he feels his decision will be influenced by a hope for further changes to the 2027 technical regulations with regard to the much criticised hybrid power units. The veteran driver’s latest team, Aston Martin, has indicated that it wishes to retain him for next season, but Alonso’s ongoing prevarification about making a decision either way is hardly helping the outfit’s preparations for the new campaign. The fact that it would be increasingly difficult to find a replacement driver of sufficient quality at ever shorter notice suggests that Alonso and Aston Martin know that he will continue to drive for them next year but are using his ongoing public non-committal to bring pressure on the FIA to introduce further changes.



In other news, Red Bull has signed Robin Räikkönen, the 11-year-old son of former Formula 1 world champion Kimi Räikkönen. The young Finn has proved impressive in karting championships, and next year he will become a member of the team’s renowned driver development programme, which in the past has been responsible for nurturing the early talent of the four-time F1 champions Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.