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Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has drawn comparisons between Andrea Kimi Antonelli's championship charge this season and Michael Schumacher's dominant era, following George Russell's dramatic late retirement at Sepang.
The former McLaren and Red Bull racer acknowledged that title contenders often appear blessed with good fortune, but stressed that the all-time greats make their own luck through relentless consistency and serial winning.
Coulthard gave his verdict on the UK's Channel 4 broadcast. Antonelli crossed the line in second, while Russell's late engine failure extended the Italian's championship lead to 84 points with a maximum of seven rounds remaining.
"It really does look like that, doesn't it — that the frontrunners get the luck. When you get into a winning run... it is easy for me to draw a parallel with the Schumacher era. Here, on this circuit, he went off the track and still won the race due to how the circumstances played out. But great drivers are simply serial winners," said David Coulthard.
The Scotsman was referencing the 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix, where Schumacher took victory despite spinning off during an early torrential downpour, ultimately overtaking Coulthard on his way to the top step. Coulthard finished runner-up to the German in that season's championship, but with barely half his points tally.
Coulthard has shared this view before. In September, following Antonelli's victory in Madrid, he dismissed the idea of pure luck on the Up to Speed podcast, remarking: "Yeah, call him lucky. I call him phenomenal."
Over the same race weekend, fellow ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle offered a different perspective on the championship battle. The Sky Sports analyst questioned whether Mercedes are truly as impartial as team principal Toto Wolff claims.
There is no direct feud between the two pundits. Brundle provided no evidence of favoritism and stopped short of accusing Mercedes of bias towards Antonelli. Coulthard, meanwhile, attributes Antonelli's momentum to championship pedigree rather than luck or team politics. That leaves two differing viewpoints behind the commanding 84-point gap, neither of which is solely defined by Russell's mechanical heartbreak.
To mathematically secure the world title, Antonelli only needs to finish third in each of the remaining rounds. Even if he fails to score a single point across the next four races, including the Singapore Sprint, he will still maintain the lead in the drivers' standings.
If the Schumacher comparison holds true, Antonelli is unlikely to need much luck from here on out. A podium finish in each remaining race will be more than enough to seal the crown.
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