Elegant dark suit, hair back to its natural color – even if the President probably wouldn’t have raised any objections due to the white-red-green dye he wore for a couple of days – Andrea Kimi Antonelli was received at the Quirinale by Sergio Mattarella, who wanted to congratulate him on his historic conquest of the Formula 1 world title.
A memorable moment for the twenty-year-old Mercedes driver who, with the spontaneous serenity with which he takes to the track, invited him to attend a Grand Prix, “maybe in Monza, it would be nice”, he said. Mattarella started by saying that for “several years the movements have been a bit complicated” but this “condition stresses me a lot”, he added, referring to the fact of having an Italian champion. Antonelli, who was accompanied by his parents and sister, gave the President a racing helmet with an autographed dedication on the visor, “to President Mattarella with great admiration”, and the latter, after weighing it, observed that “it must be a liberation when you take it off”.
Kimi confirmed that it is not easy to race for an hour and a half with all the protection provided, especially the heavy fireproof suit. “We lose at least a couple of kilos per race” which is why, when it’s hot, in the end “we throw ourselves into the tub with cold water”, the driver further explained, adding to a question from his interlocutor that on karts, where he began racing at a very young age, “you suffer much less because you are exposed to the air and not closed in a cockpit”, he underlined, before extending the invitation to Monza to his guest. The visit to the Quirinale sealed days full of commitments and honors for Antonelli, who yesterday in San Marino, where he has lived with his family for a few years, received the title of ‘commendatore’ and in the evening was welcomed with a standing ovation by the San Siro crowd where he attended the Italy-France Nations League match. “He gave us a splendid gift to come”, commented the extraordinary commissioner of the FIGC, Giovanni Malagò, but soon the pilot will have to return to the atmosphere of the circus, given that three more races await him, starting with that one. in Las Vegas next week.