Valentino Rossi takes F1’s next superstar under his wing

The 2000s were a great period for Italian motorsports: Valentino Rossi dominated MotoGP while Ferrari won six of the decade’s F1 titles.

It’s been a while since then, and in the 2010s the most Italy had to shout about in motorsports was Antonio Cairoli’s MXGP success, but with Ducati’s recent rise in MotoGP – coupled, until last year, with Francesco Bagnaia – Italy has cemented its return to the top of global motorsports, at least on two wheels.

On four wheels, Ferrari has proved relatively unreliable when viewed in comparison to Ducati. There have been back-to-back 24 Heures du Mans wins for the 499P Hypercar, but in F1 it is still without a title since 2008 and the early evidence of 2025 is that there is little chance of it ending that drought this year.

In comparison to Ferrari, Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s chances of bringing a title of some description back to Italy might actually be higher in this, his rookie year, but still pretty slim.

For the 18-year-old, it is affirmatively a journey he has begun in 2025, and it will take time for him to reach the top. With the right equipment, though, he should get there, because he has the talent.

In contrast, Valentino Rossi’s rise in Grand Prix racing was relatively quick. A champion in his second year in each of the three classes, Rossi was the reference in Grand Prix racing by the dawn of the four-stroke era in 2002, his dominance of MotoGP lasting until the end of the decade.

A meeting of Antonelli – whose affinity for two-wheels was confirmed by his attendance at last year’s San Marino Grand Prix – and Rossi – by now an established GT3 car racer – at a kart track in Italy is about as close as it gets to a meeting of past and present.

Certainly, Rossi represents Italy’s past in two-wheeled motorsport – even if he is a current team owner; Antonelli, on the other hand, is only almost certain to be Italy’s future of four-wheeled motorsport.

The teenager’s status in that regard is as dependent on his own performance as it is on the aforementioned Maranello brand’s in the coming years, but his two top-sixes currently have him 13 points ahead of Ferrari’s motorcycle-owning star signing after two GPs and a Sprint in 2025.