Martin Brundle Reveals the Driver That Reminds Him of Michael Schumacher

Former Formula 1 driver turned pundit Martin Brundle has explained how Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli "reminded me of watching Michael Schumacher" at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix weekend.

The Italian is in just his second season of F1 racing after an up-and-down rookie campaign ended with a late flourish alongside experienced teammate George Russell.

Mercedes has entered the new year as the favorite for the constructors' championship under the sport's new regulation set, and Russell set about underlining that belief with a dominant performance in both qualifying and the race.

Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes | Mercedes-Benz Media

Antonelli's brilliance

But Antonelli showed why he was put in the car alongside the Briton with flashes of brilliance of his own, even if his weekend was far from straightforward.

A heavy crash in FP3 as he clipped the kerb exiting Turns 1 and 2 left his mechanics with a mammoth task to get the car ready for qualifying, with substantial damage needing to be repaired on both sides of the car and a ruined rear-end.

Yet he was able to join in late on Saturday and instantly set a competitive lap time, which caught Brundle's eye.

Kimi was fighting for his life at the team photo 🤣 pic.twitter.com/aJ2RZuG53N
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 10, 2026

"Mercedes were very strong in winter testing and carried the 'favourite' tag into Melbourne, and that turned out to be correct. They had great single-lap and race pace," Brundle wrote in his regular post-race Sky Sports F1 column.

"Kimi Antonelli dismantled his car against the walls in practice and the team did extremely well to fix it just in time for him to do a lap in Q1, given extra breathing space by Max's Red Bull locking up his rear wheels and hand-braking him into the barriers, causing a red flag.

"Kimi went from crashing to extremely fast on his next flying lap. That reminded me of watching Michael Schumacher crashing the spare Benetton in Suzuka 1991, which was primarily allocated to team-mate Nelson Piquet for the weekend."

Martin Brundle | Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

While many believe that 2026 is very much Russell's season to lose, Antonelli's performance out of the blocks has given confidence that there will at least be a tussle at the top, even if Mercedes holds an advantage over rivals Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren.

Brundle went on to add that Antonelli will no doubt keep George Russell "on his toes all season long," adding that if it's Mercedes that does indeed have the best car, the decider will be errors between its drivers, Russell and Antonelli.