Kimi Antonelli is world champion. First title, in Mexico, with four Grands Prix still to run. According to Sporza, the Flemish broadcaster, at 20 he is the youngest champion in F1 history. I watched the finish on Play Sports, sim paused, the wheel still warm.
One sentence interests me. He told Sporza: “This weekend I felt a little more tense. I’m so happy we finished it off. Now we can enjoy the rest of the season.”
Tense. In the sim, there’s no slider for that. I looked through the settings this morning: tyre pressure, yes. Title pressure, no. Unmodelled variable.
So I ran a test. I redid Mexico telling myself that if I finished, I was world champion. Not for real, in my head. Result: two tenths lost in the first sector. I braked earlier everywhere. Nobody was watching, apart from the ghost.
He finished anyway. Then his race engineer, Peter Bonnington, told him on the radio that he was champion, and he cried with joy. In my cockpit, the radio is me talking to myself. It has less effect.
Afterwards, the lap of honour, then he parked his Mercedes. I’ve never done the lap of honour. In the sim, when you cross the line, it cuts out and you go back to the menu. It’s a design decision I don’t understand.
The team confirms that pressure is managed here by a sandwich. The team remains open to discussions with simulator publishers.
So I added a lap after the finish, at reduced speed, imaginary windows down. Two tenths lost before, a lap gained after. In theory.
It’s true, we checked: Sporza.
