Kimi Antonelli versus his mind will decide 2026 Formula 1 title race, says Nico Rosberg ahead of Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Former Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg believes Kimi Antonelli's biggest obstacle will be himself in this season's title race run-in.

Antonelli is on course to become F1's youngest world champion at 20 years old as he leads Mercedes team-mate George Russell by 81 points, Ferrari's Lewis Hamiton by 101 points and McLaren's Lando Norris by 106 points.

Just nine rounds remain this year, starting with this week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix which will see the race take place on Saturday at 12pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event.

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Speaking on the latest episode of Sky Sports' The F1 Show, Rosberg brought up his own title-winning experience in 2016 where he faced a big mental battle which Antonelli may also need to overcome.

"I know how my head started to play games with me when I was the big favourite," said Rosberg.

"When you're really the big favourite, like he is now, it's like, 'oh my God, this is this is actually mine for the taking. I better not mess this up, I better not make these make stupid mistakes and unnecessary mistakes now because the World Championship is there for the taking'.

"As soon as those kind of thoughts come in, you start to get scared and you really start to get fear that you're going to mess something up completely unnecessarily because it remains that driving an F1 car and being at the front of the pack, of course, is one of the hardest things in the world to do.

"It is so damn difficult to not make mistakes and to be there, qualify time and time again and do good laps and not put it on the wall. It is easy to make mistakes because it's just so damn hard. Then your head starts to go, and it just takes capacity away from your concentration to drive well."

Antonelli has shown no signs of any nerves as he has won the last two races, including an incredible drive from 19th to first at his home event at Monza, then at a new track in Madrid a week later.

In 2016, Rosberg was in a much tighter title fight against Hamilton but was in a position where he did not need to win the last four races and could afford to finish second, with one third.

He continued: "When I was going for my World Championship, the last four races, that's when it really went crazy in my head, and there was no chance in the world for me to do a pole position or to win another race in those last four races because I had like 30 per cent less capacity in my mind to actually drive well.

"Usually, it's like 100 per cent to drive well, and now it was 70 per cent to drive well, and 30 per cent was just absolutely terrified to make some stupid mistake and lose my opportunity to win the Formula 1 World Championship, which is just so extremely big.

"It was a massive dream that also Kimi has been working towards since he's eight years old. So it's 12 years of dedicating his life, which is more than half of his life, towards the dream of maybe being F1 world champion. It's so big.

"That's the big one that we need to keep an eye out. It's really him against his mind now, so we see how that goes, but he's doing incredibly well."

Rosberg: Worst-case scenario if McLaren edge away

Antonelli has largely had the upper hand on team-mate Russell for much of the season, so unless that suddenly changes, his biggest competition could come from Ferrari or McLaren outdeveloping Mercedes.

Norris could have won three of the last four races, had it not been for an untimely virtual safety car last time out in Madrid, so he appears to be Antonelli's biggest threat despite being fourth in the Drivers' Championship.

McLaren have new parts for this weekend's race in Baku, before Mercedes bring a major upgrade package for next week's race in Malaysia.

"The worst-case scenario is if suddenly McLaren starts to edge away, and maybe there's also a Ferrari improvement or something, and Kimi starts to drop back into the pack a little bit more," said Rosberg.

"That again is similar to where I was in my championship year, because I was not driving as well, I started to drop back into the pack in those last four races.

"Even in Mexico in qualifying until the last moment, I was actually only sixth in Q3 until the last moment. In each of those races, I was P3 at some point and not P2, and Max Verstappen was banging into me like every single race.

"If you were to drop back into the pack ever so slightly, again, the risk just comes up more and you start to get more and more panicked about things."

Sky Sports F1's Azerbaijan GP Schedule

Wednesday September 23
11am: Drivers' Press Conference
2pm: Paddock Uncut

Thursday September 24
6.55am: F2 Practice
9am: Azerbaijan GP Practice One (session starts at 9.30am)*
10.55am: F2 Qualifying*
12pm: Team Bosses' Press Conference
12.30pm: Azerbaijan GP Practice Two (session starts at 1pm)
2.15pm: The F1 Show

Friday September 25
5.10am: F2 Sprint*
9.15am: Azerbaijan GP Practice Three (session starts at 9.30am)*
11.10am: F2 Feature Race 1*
12.30pm: Azerbaijan GP Qualifying build-up*
1PM: AZERBAIJAN GP QUALIFYING*
3pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

Saturday September 26
7.55am: F2 Feature Race 2
10.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Azerbaijan GP build-up*
12PM: THE AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX*
2pm: Chequered Flag: Azerbaijan GP reaction*
3pm: Ted's Notebook*

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event

Racing on a Saturday! The 2026 Formula 1 season continues live on Sky Sports F1 this week as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix kicks off a triple-header of races, with the Baku race taking place on Saturday at midday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Kimi Antonelli versus his mind will decide 2026 Formula 1 title race, says Nico Rosberg ahead of Azerbaijan Grand Prix