Kimi Antonelli’s remarkable triumph at the Italian Grand Prix seemed to mark a pivotal juncture in this year’s title fight, delivering a psychological blow to his rivals by clawing his way up from 19th on the grid to the top step of the podium. After that stunning performance Antonelli now sits 66 points ahead of George Russell, 76 points clear of Lewis Hamilton and enjoys a 96‑point cushion over Lando Norris, with ten races still on the calendar. There is little doubt that the Italian driver has become the favourite to claim the championship – and if he succeeds he will also become the youngest world champion in the sport’s history.

Yet, despite his dominant position, the season is far from settled. Monza’s long straights place a premium on raw power, and historically Mercedes has set the benchmark for straight‑line speed.

Earlier in the year the FIA confirmed that Red Bull’s power unit was technically superior, but it was Mercedes’ clever exploitation of the electrical component of its hybrid system that gave it an edge at the Italian venue. The team managed to extract more performance from the electric motor, allowing it to excel on the high‑speed sections where pure horsepower matters most. Few circuits on the remaining schedule will demand the same extreme power‑unit output as Monza.

Baku, with its lengthy full‑throttle stretch, and the upcoming Las Vegas street race both feature long straight sections, but each includes a considerably higher number of corners than the Italian circuit, meaning that overall car balance and aerodynamic efficiency will play a larger role. "I’m quite happy, first of all, that we were able to perform in Monza like we did, because we weren’t sure.

Ferrari brought an engine upgrade and others on the chassis side, and this is a development race," said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. "But we have to consider the fact that Monza is an outlier on the track. It’s on one end, and then there is Monaco on the other." The new Madrid venue, debuting this weekend, is a mystery to everyone.

Its layout appears highly twisty, favouring cars that excel in the corners – a characteristic that should benefit both McLaren and Ferrari. After Madrid the calendar moves to Azerbaijan, a race that often produces chaos, followed by more traditional circuits such as Sepang in Malaysia, Austin in the United States and the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico.

Those tracks should tighten the field, provided teams can deliver timely upgrades. McLaren entered the two races before Monza with a package capable of winning, as evidenced by Lando Norris’s superb drives to victory in Hungary and the Netherlands. Many teams have already harvested sizable performance gains from fresh components, while Mercedes has announced that it will not introduce any new parts until the Malaysian round at the start of next month. "We must not get ahead of ourselves now, thinking, ‘well, we can wait for the upgrade until Malaysia’.

We know that it’s going to be a big fight in Madrid. Our car hasn’t got the performance levels that it has in Monza for the next race in Madrid," Wolff explained. "We know that our upgrades would help a lot in Madrid but we haven’t got them.

So we just need to do our best and that could mean that some of the race weekends, not winning, but just scoring points." McLaren boss Andrea Stella echoed a realistic approach, stating that the team’s goal is to be consistently in the win‑contending mix until the season’s end. "I think our tracks will be more the likes of Malaysia, Austin, Brazil. I think where we have some long corners, the car seems to express its potential well," he said.

"We have some new upgrades that we will take to Baku, but we still think that tracks like Baku and Madrid where you have to be very precise with the trajectory, short corners, maybe they don’t play to the best of our car. Yet we have to say that in Zandvoort and Hungary we were in a position to win races and in Monza while we were not, we know that it’s a special race. "The drag will be less important in Madrid, there’s a much higher density of corners, so we will definitely give it a go, but from a championship point of view I think we have to remain very realistic, don’t get conditioned by looking at the classification, just focus on one race at a time." Antonelli, only 20 years old and in his second season, has already demonstrated a generational level of speed.

Unlike many young drivers who still make costly errors, he has shown remarkable composure and consistency. Nonetheless, the remaining ten races will test him in new ways – whether through tighter competition, unpredictable weather or the occasional mechanical gremlin.

"Definitely it’s been a very strong year so far, but still many races left and so, still anything can happen," Antonelli remarked. "And we’ve seen how things can swing very quickly. So, on my side, as I said many times, just take it race by race, focus on things that I can control and just maximise every opportunity I get. "In Monza we were fastest, but we never know.

We might go to another track and all of a sudden, McLaren is the fastest, or Ferrari is up there, or even Red Bull, with Max." If McLaren or Ferrari were to find a performance edge over the next several rounds and Antonelli were to miss the podium, rivals such as Hamilton or Norris could quickly close the points gap, applying fresh pressure on the Italian star. The situation looks even less favourable for George Russell, who shares the same machinery as Antonelli but has yet to match his teammate’s raw pace.

While McLaren and Ferrari appear poised to challenge for the final ten races, Russell’s prospects for a late‑season surge appear limited. Wolff summed up the state of the championship succinctly: "It’s motor racing. It’s a technical sport. Things can break, accidents can happen and that’s why we have to do our best job for both drivers.

Continue to bring our best game." Formula 1 now heads to the brand‑new Madring circuit for the Spanish Grand Prix, with live coverage from Friday onward on Sky Sports F1. Viewers can stream the action via Sky Sports with NOW – no long‑term contract required, cancel anytime.