In our exclusive interview, the former driver backs Kimi Antonelli for the F1 title, believes Hamilton can challenge in 2027, and tips Verstappen to be F1's greatest.
Can anyone stop Kimi Antonelli from being the 2026 Drivers World Champion?
The situation now is clear that he is going to win the World Championship. For Italy, it’s very, very important because the last Italian World Champion was Alberto Ascari in 1952-53. The history of Ferrari makes all the Italian fans follow Ferrari, and now they have a driver winning the World Championship. The Tifosi will go crazy. It’s a well-deserved championship; he did very well from the beginning of the season, and he helped make all the circumstances work in his favour.
Do the young people in Italy support Ferrari or Kimi now?
I think both. Kimi and Ferrari. Ferrari is so important for Formula 1 globally, not just in Italy. Formula 1 is not the same if Ferrari is not there; Ferrari is the root of Formula 1. In Italy, they are crazy about it. Every Monday after a Grand Prix, at the bars and restaurants, they are talking about how Ferrari did. Now they have Ferrari and an Italian champion; that is fantastic for Italy.
The constant drama of Ferrari being up and down makes for a great story, doesn’t it?
Ferrari always has a very dramatic history within Formula 1. Three weeks ago, I was invited by the Italian magazine Autosprint to do a presentation with Daniele Audetto at the Torino Automobile Museum. The discussion was about Ferrari against all the English teams. I talked about my history with Lotus and McLaren going against Ferrari, because Ferrari called all the British teams “garagistas”, meaning they make the cars in the garage. Ferrari used those terms in the 70s and 80s, and the theme of the museum exhibit was Ferrari against the garagistas. But Ferrari is always there. In the mid-70s, when Gianni Agnelli decided to get more involved with the Formula 1 team, he put Luca di Montezemolo in, and then Daniele Audetto. Ferrari had a big change for the future since then. They’re not only big in F1 but they also have world class street cars.
How many Ferraris do you have?
I don’t actually have one, but the one I would love to have is the F12 designed by Pininfarina. It’s a brilliant, smooth car design. It’s a 12-cylinder, front-engine car. A beautiful Italian design, and one of the most powerful Ferraris ever built.
When you won your first World Championship in 1972, you were the youngest ever at 25. Kimi is now 19, it shows how F1 is changing, doesn’t it?
Formula 1 has changed, and if you look at any other professional sport, athletes start much younger than they did 50 years ago. Kimi started very young in karting with his father Marco, a great person from a great family in Bologna. I know them well.
With all the analytics and electronics available today, you can develop a driver much sooner than in our time. It’s amazing how much engineering helps develop a young driver. You can take a reasonable driver, work with him, and make him a good driver who can win races. You still need natural talent to be exceptional, but the analytics can make someone a very good driver.
How do you rate Kimi?
Extremely talented. He has shown us he can operate under pressure. At the Italian Grand Prix, his own home Grand Prix, he started 19th, made fantastic overtakes, lost it in the first part but managed to fight back. That was a great race under tremendous pressure. Any athlete in a highly competitive sport who operates under tremendous pressure and wins has a special talent.
What is it in his character that makes him with the other elite drivers?
He showed this year against George Russell that he is always able to put together a very good qualifying lap. He uses every centimetre of the track, driving the car to the maximum limit and pushing himself to his limit. We know they only have one flying lap with a set of tyres, and to be able to repeat that magic lap many times shows he is extremely talented.
Red Bull seem to be getting their act together after Max won in Singapore. Mercedes must be happy this is only happening now and not earlier in the season?
Max was very impressive over the last two Grand Prix. Again, he put in a magic lap in qualifying, and then he is outstanding in the race. He doesn’t make mistakes; he drives the car at the extreme limit all the time. 100 % correct that Mercedes is lucky that this competitive surge from Red Bull didn’t happen in the first part of the season. It will be a World Championship challenge again next year. It will also be very exciting to watch the next few races to see if he can maintain his performance. He is amazing.
What makes Isack Hadjar different from the other drivers who have been number two to Verstappen?
He is the closest teammate Max has had recently. He shows he can run well and qualifies quite well.
Have you been surprised by how quickly Red Bull Powertrains and Ford have developed this engine after taking over from Honda?
Formula 1 is a very small group of people, only 11 teams with top engineers. Apparently, they got quite good people from Honda to help develop the new engine, which helps a lot because Honda historically makes very good engines.
They have a very good group of people making this new Ford engine at Red Bull. They are going to show their strength in the second part of this season. I think they are going to show they are the best team in this second part of the season.
That could be a reason why Max stayed long-term; he could see the forecast for the next few years and knew they had very competent people.
Max is a four-time champion and still only 29. Can he become the greatest of all time and win eight titles?
For sure, he has the potential to do that. He enjoys the sport and is very committed to any type of racing. Driving a sports car around the Nürburgring keeps his senses, reflexes, and coordination alive and keeps him on the absolute edge of human limits. He’s still very young and has a long way to go. To me, he is still the number one driver in the world. The very best.
I also admire Fernando Alonso a lot. He is what we call a racer. When the flag drops, the bullshit stops. Aston Martin is not doing well right now, but he is always there trying to get the maximum out of the car.
Do you think Aston Martin will be better next year with Adrian Newey’s influence?
For sure they’ll be competitive. Any of the top teams in history have cycles of performance. With Adrian’s know-how and capacity, I’m sure the car will be good. Apparently, they’ve had problems with the powertrain, but when they get that working, the car will be very compact and fast.
Is Adrian Newey the Colin Chapman of this generation?
Yes, I agree. He is a design genius. I don’t know if you know this, but his first job in F1 was working with me! I hired him for my team in 1980 straight out of university. I had Harvey Postlethwaite, the engineer, Peter Warr as team manager, who was incredible. We had Richard Divila, our original designer, and Adrian had just finished university and came in as a junior aerodynamicist. He is a very good friend of mine.
The F8 we designed in 1980 was the first F1 car Adrian did aerodynamic work on. The car was extremely competitive. We didn’t have a lot of testing, but Keke Rosberg qualified it fifth or sixth at Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix, its first time out. Unfortunately, we lost our sponsorship. But Adrian was a genius from the start. Look at his history, how many great cars and World Championships he has designed. I have a lot of admiration and friendship for Adrian.
Looking at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton’s strategy was wrong this weekend. Is Lewis good for Ferrari?
Last year, I was quite upset when people were criticising the move. Every driver, myself, Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, dreams of driving for Ferrari one day. Lewis has achieved everything there is to achieve with seven World Championships. When he had the offer to go to Ferrari, it was great for him to accept a new challenge. Last year was about learning the team, and this year he shows he’s still extremely competitive. Ferrari and Fred Vasseur have a very good organisation. They make strategic mistakes like any other team as they and Lewis did at the weekend, but Ferrari is competitive now, and Lewis is running strong and showing his talent. I am very happy to see that.
It’s been nearly 20 years since Ferrari last won the World title. Can Lewis make it number eight and bring back the glory days for Ferrari?
Next year they have a good chance, no doubt. Even Leclerc showed it; they are able to keep the tyres surviving longer than before. They still need to improve the car on all tyre compounds, but they are working on that for sure.
Christian Horner recently said Ferrari would be his dream job. Can you see Horner going to Ferrari?
There is a lot of talk about a Chinese team coming in. The Chinese car industry is booming, and they have three or four very strong groups that want to be in Formula 1. I would love to see 24 cars on the grid, and so would the spectators, I am sure. And bringing a Chinese team into F1 would be outstanding. Christian Horner would be a great guy to start a new team. With all his experience, he would be the perfect guy to develop a brand-new team into Formula 1.
Last week in Malaysia, drivers were angry about the technology in the cars. Has F1 gone too far with technology and moved away from pure racing?
Malaysia is a specific example because of the heavy water influence, it seems they didn’t expect that much water penetration. But overall, the electronics make the cars much more reliable than ever. In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, we had far more mechanical DNFs (Did Not Finish). The cars are much more reliable now.
Because of the analytics available to the engineers, they know every centimetre of the track and everything about how the driver is driving; the steering wheel position, the throttle, exactly how much pressure the driver is putting on each corner of the brake pedal, the braking curve. If someone came to me in my time and said, “I want to check your braking curve at the end of the straight,” I would have laughed! There is so much more precision now.
However, the drivers have a chip in their head now. I follow my son in Formula 2, and I listen to his radio. I can hear the engineer talking to him corner-by-corner about brake balance. In my day, I would have told the engineer to shut up! I cannot drive with someone talking to me. But this new generation has grown up with it since karting; their brains are like small computers.
Is that proper racing compared to the 70s and 80s when the driver was king, not the machine?
It is much easier for the drivers to equalize now, but when a driver has true talent, he still overcomes the rest. You can still see the natural talent. But it is much more even and equal now.
For example, as an ambassador for McLaren, I know they have about 20 engineers at the track, 35 to 40 engineers back at the factory receiving live data, and then simulator drivers running all night back at base. All the teams are doing it. It brings the grid closer together, which is great for the spectators.
How do you rate Lando Norris?
Lando is another very fast driver and a world champion. He is extremely fast in the wet and in difficult conditions. He is always able to put together a quick lap when needed. Similar to Verstappen, he can suddenly pull out a magic lap under pressure. McLaren lost a little bit of ground with the new rules, but they are recovering. Again, circumstances just didn’t help McLaren this year.
Oscar Piastri looked like a champion-in-waiting last year before his challenge faded. How will he be feeling?
I’m sure he is frustrated. He is an extremely talented driver and showed us last season that he has the potential to win a championship. My perception, and I could be wrong, is that this year’s cars are more difficult to drive. With less downforce, the cars are more nervous.
The hybrid systems and putting the power down make the whole package harder. It separates the drivers, and Oscar just needs more experience. The drivers who adapt fastest to the new rules gain the edge, which is another reason Lewis is showing his talent at Ferrari, he adapted.
Do you think F1 is in a great position globally since Liberty Media took over?
The last few races have been great for racing fans. Everyone on the grid is much closer even from the start of the season.
Liberty Media and Stefano Domenicali have done a fantastic job. I go to most of the Grand Prix, and I see families, children, and young girls wanting to follow motor racing like never before. They have done a fantastic job popularising the sport globally, and they have broken America. They now have three Grand Prix! Forty years ago, it was just Watkin’s Glen. When I won there in 1970, the front page of the New York Times section had a headline: ‘Emerson who wins the US Grand Prix?!’
When you won your first title, you were the first Brazilian to do so. Did you realize you were blazing a trail for Piquet, Senna, Barrichello, Massa, and now young Bortoleto?
It wasn’t just me; it was myself, my brother Wilson, and Carlos Pace. The three of us created a passion for Formula 1 in Brazil. Football is always huge in Brazil, but suddenly motorsport was too. I am very proud to see all the great Brazilian champions who followed. Nelson, Ayrton, Filipe Massa. I am proud that we managed to open a door for others to follow.
Jackie Stewart used to joke, “Here’s another BB – another bloody Brazilian!” I am very happy to see Gabriel Bortoleto doing well, and Rafel Camara is coming too from F2. I thank God for the legacy we started. I am very happy. My son also has the dream to be in F1 and I think that dream can come true.
Can Gabriel Bortoleto be the next great Brazilian driver?
He has the potential for sure. He just needs a competitive car and team to have a chance to win. Nico Hülkenberg is his teammate; Nico is an extremely fast, talented driver who is sometimes underestimated. Bortoleto is showing that he is right there with him.
Who were your racing heroes growing up in Latin America?
In Latin America, there is a great history of Formula 1. The Maestro, the great Juan Manuel Fangio was the start. When I was young in Brazil, we didn’t have live TV broadcasts, so I used to buy Quatro Rodas magazines at the São Paulo airport to get racing news. After Fangio we had the Rodriguez brothers. I am soon going to go to the Fangio Museum and I am very excited. I have never been there.
Latin American motorsport is very united. In football, Brazilians and Argentinians hate each other, but in motorsport, we are very close. I was good friends with Carlos Reutemann, and Fangio used to invite me for dinner in Switzerland. I loved listening to his stories.
When you won your title in 1972, did you become as famous as Pelé in Brazil?
It was a huge impact. I actually did a magazine cover where I was wearing Pelé’s Santos football kit, and Pelé was wearing my racing uniform and helmet. It was the cover of the biggest magazine in Brazil. Pelé was a fantastic guy and a very good friend of mine. Suddenly everyone followed motor racing in Brazil and everybody loves it now.
Do you have any regrets about leaving McLaren in 1976 to drive for your brother’s Copersucar-Fittipaldi team?
It was a very difficult challenge for me and my brother to build our own Brazilian team, but I don’t regret it. We had some success; in 1978, we finished second at the Brazilian Grand Prix. At the end of that year, we had more points than McLaren and Renault with only one car! There was a lot of criticism of us in the Brazilian press.
But takes four to six years to build up a good Formula 1 team. After that, my next challenge was Indianapolis. It was Colin Chapman who first inspired me to drive in IndyCar. He said one day I had to go. I also asked Jochen. But he tired it and hated it!
What was the difference in mindset between winning the Indy 500 and F1?
At Indy, you had to learn how to drive fast on the ovals without making mistakes, finding the limit of the car and the track while staying safe. It’s extremely difficult. I had great teaching from the American drivers. A.J. Foyt took me out on a golf cart on my first day at Indianapolis and showed me exactly how smooth Mario Andretti was turning the steering wheel into Turn 1. The only thing I never learned from the Americans was how they spin the car to the inside to avoid the wall when they lose the back end; my F1 reflexes always made me correct the slide! The IndyCar weekends are also much more relaxed; you have time for family, friends, and sponsors, whereas F1 has so much pressure.
You were great friends with George Harrison. How did that friendship start?
I was at Brands Hatch for the British Grand Prix in 1972, and he suddenly came into my garage and started talking to me. He had been following my career. I was so impressed because, as a teenager in Brazil during the hippie era, the Beatles were global icons. I asked George why he liked racing so much. He told me that in the 1950s, his father – who was a bus driver- used to take a bus, load up the whole family, and drive them to Aintree to watch the Grand Prix. George loved motorsport first, before his father gave him a guitar a year or two later.
He wrote a beautiful song about racing called “Faster.” When I was in the hospital recovering from my crash at Michigan in 1996, he sent me a beautiful message. He was an incredible person and an incredible friend. I was a bit lost when he passed away from cancer. Motor racing people loved George; he was a great personality in the sport. I used to call him and joke, “Who is going to drive for McLaren next year? You tell me!” because he was so well-connected in the Formula 1 paddock.
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