Antonelli was greeted with applause in Brackley and Brixworth.

      Yesterday, Kimi Antonelli returned to the UK after a series of three consecutive victories, and he received a truly warm welcome at the Mercedes bases in Brackley and Bricksworth. Almost all the staff, over a thousand people, gathered to meet the 19-year-old Italian driver, which, of course, pleased Kimi.

      "We no longer talk about Kimi Antonelli as a debutant or a rookie – we talk about Kimi Antonelli as a driver who is leading the World Championship!" proclaimed the ceremony host, to which the gathered crowd at the Brackley base responded with thunderous applause.

      The ovation lasted nearly half a minute, and when it subsided, Kimi cheerfully said, "You clapped for a long time! Thank you so much!"

      The Mercedes press service has not shared any other details yet, except that Antonelli highly praised the recent successes of other Italian athletes who have distinguished themselves lately: "This is a wonderful moment for Italy, and I am very happy to have contributed as well. It's great that other athletes are also achieving remarkable success.

      I mean Jannik Sinner (who won another match at the tennis tournament in Rome yesterday), Marco Bezzecchi, who is leading in MotoGP, but there are also many other Italian athletes achieving remarkable success. This is good because it becomes a source of additional motivation for me, and I want to perform even better.

      It's incredibly exciting to witness these events, and let's hope we can continue this successful streak!"