Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli has won nine races in a single season and is closing in on Alberto Ascari’s record of 13 career wins by an Italian Formula One driver. (EPA Images pic)MEXICO CITY: Alberto Ascari was a boyhood hero for US motor racing great Mario Andretti, now 86, but few of Kimi Antonelli's compatriots were around when Italy's last Formula One world champion was making headlines.
Antonelli, 20, is set this weekend to become the only living Italian who knows what it feels like to take the chequered flag and win the Formula One championship.
He would be the first to do it in 73 years, since Ascari's second title with Ferrari in 1953.
"I know the corner in Monza is named after him," the Mercedes driver told Reuters when asked what he knew about his illustrious predecessor, who was also champion in 1952 after Giuseppe "Nino" Farina won the first title with Alfa Romeo in 1950. Farina died in 1966.
