Kimi Antonelli already has one F1 world championship to his name at 20 years old and Valentino Rossi is convinced that he is not stopping there.

With four races to spare, Kimi Antonelli won the F1 championship at the Mexico City Grand Prix, achieving a P3 finish in the race to earn his crown.

Antonelli proved 98% of fans wrong by winning the title, and at 20 years old, he is the youngest champion in the sport’s history. The Italian shared the podium with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, and he has time in his favour to try and catch up to their achievements.

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He's the youngest ever F1 champion!

Valentino Rossi predicts plenty more titles for Kimi Antonelli

The current F1 regulations are going nowhere anytime soon, so Antonelli can look forward to Mercedes remaining competitive at the front end of the grid.

There will be fierce competition to dethrone Antonelli in 2027, but compatriot and good friend Valentino Rossi believes there are plenty more titles heading in the young driver’s direction.

“He’ll become a hero, and rightly so, it’s a historic title. I’m a huge motorsports fan, and I’ve always suffered from the lack of Italian drivers capable of winning races and World Championships. I always wondered why there were so many of us in motorbike racing and all of us very strong, but not in F1.

“I have to say that now it will be tough for Kimi, because he’ll become a global superstar. He’ll have to manage this aspect a bit, but if he stays like this, it won’t be a big problem.

“I started hearing about Kimi at Migliaro, in karting, and he set a track record. So I started following him, and he made a difference right from the karting stage. He was lucky enough to grow up under the wing of Toto Wolff, but given his performances this year, he’s repaid them handsomely.

“In my opinion, Kimi can truly become one of the strongest drivers in history, he can win four, five, six World Championships if he has the car. He reminds me a bit of myself when I was 20 or 21, and so I really enjoy watching him and cheering for him.”

Will Kimi Antonelli win more World Championships than Max Verstappen?

Clearly, Rossi is a big fan of his fellow Italian, and he is confident that Antonelli could win as many as six World Championships in his career.

Perhaps not quite enough to topple Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher, but enough to cement himself as one of the best Formula 1 drivers of all time.

There were 12 World Championship titles in one photo when Verstappen and Hamilton hoisted Antonelli on their shoulders on the Mexico podium, and Antonelli will now chase down their title tallies in the years to come.

Verstappen and Hamilton will be hungry for more, and eager to reclaim their crown from Antonelli in 2027.