Lewis Hamilton highlights key boost to Kimi Antonelli maiden F1 title hopes

Lewis Hamilton has highlighted the support network at Mercedes built by Toto Wolff as a key boost to Kimi Antonelli's pursuit of a maiden F1 drivers' title compared to when he was involved in his first championship fight in 2007.

Antonelli has made an exceptional start to his second campaign in F1 and leads the drivers' standings by 43 points following four consecutive victories across the opening five rounds.

He has become the title favourite among many in the paddock and with the bookmakers, with George Russell having much ground to make up.

With Antonelli still only 19, Mercedes team principal Wolff has built an incredible support network around the Italian, something Hamilton insists he did not have in 2007.

Hamilton missed out on becoming world champion in his debut F1 season by just one point to Kimi Räikkönen, with the seven-time world champion believing things were very different back then.

The 41-year-old believes the support network Antonelli has around him at Mercedes is unlike anything he had at McLaren in his first year, although he stresses that he would not change anything.

Asked what guidance he can offer Antonelli in a title fight based on his experience in 2007, Hamilton said while sitting next to the teenager: "I think you forget that we’re competitors. He’s already doing a great job. I’m not going to give him any more pointers! I mean, I think just for me personally, 2007 was the one I was fighting for. 

"It was a lot. I was a little bit older than you, I was 22. I think things were different back then. It feels like it was just different back then. I don’t think I had the same support system that he has, for example, today in a place that I worked at and worked in. 

"Toto did a great job of surrounding you with the right support, and I definitely didn’t feel that. The team were nice and everything but there wasn’t the right elements around to support you, to help you stay stable and guide you. 

"And it was pretty intense, especially in my first year. But I wouldn’t change it for the world."