Race team coordinator Stephen Lord, a close ally of Hamilton’s at Mercedes, even recounted a story of Hamilton leaving a touching gift for Antonelli, who won the United States Grand Prix on Sunday, on his way out the door.

Upon realising he was leaving the Silver Arrows’ European race base for the final time in 2024, he returned to his driver room at the last second to leave the youngster a letter expressing his support and admiration.

“I walked into the room and on the wall there’s quite a long, handwritten note,” said Lord on an episode of Beyond the Grid in December 2024. “It was a note to Kimi and it was basically welcoming him to his new room, and it was wishing him the best of luck, saying some really nice things about the team and how, ‘If you care for them, they'll care for you because they're a great team.’

“I thought, ‘Wow, what a nice thing to do.’ And actually we've had glass cut and it's now covered in the room so it will be there forevermore.”

Fast-forward to this season and it seems Hamilton’s projections for where Antonelli’s talents would take him have come true. However, he doesn’t appear to view former team-mate George Russell through quite the same lens despite him also driving Mercedes’ W17.

Analysing the gap to Antonelli at the time, he said: "Well, I mean, he's 101 points ahead of me. Just in two races he gained something like 40-odd points on me and we've been working so hard to gain just a couple of points here and there.”

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While catching up to Antonelli appears an impossibility, he viewed the competition with Russell in a very different light. In the same conversation, he said Ferrari could still have a very productive year if he could just “battle with George and somehow get ahead of him,” though he acknowledged even that would be difficult.

That underlines the difference between how Hamilton views the two Mercedes drivers. And while Russell may hold the edge in F1 experience, it seems Antonelli is on a different level in his eyes.

“No, I don’t know. He doesn’t need any advice. I think he’s shown this year, and also last year, but particularly this year, his talent and his ability, his calmness and his approach.

“He’s done an amazing job this year, and I’m so proud of him. I’m so proud of the way he’s carried himself, how he interacts with the drivers and even with you guys.

“It’s great to see him and the team excel. If it’s not my team, I’d always want to see my old team do well.”

Big moments. Packed grandstands. A championship battle that’s heating up.

When the Formula 1 season delivers like this, watching from home just isn’t the same as being there when the lights go out.

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