Kimi Antonelli has spent the opening months of 2026 forcing the Formula 1 paddock to take him seriously as a championship contender. In Miami, between a sprint pole and his eventual third Grand Prix victory in succession, he reminded everyone he is still just nineteen years old.
The Mercedes driver's media duties after his sprint pole produced what is already being shared widely as the comic highlight of the weekend. Asked to describe an on-track moment, Antonelli reached for the word 'hairdryer' to describe the heat shimmer off the cars in front of him — and instead said 'hairdresser'.
"First lap out, there was a — that the I had a hairdresser pointed at my face," Antonelli said, before catching himself. "Um, no, a hairdryer. What did I have? I had said hairdresser. Oh my god. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. Sorry. Long day. It felt like I had a hairdryer in my face, not a hairdresser."
The room broke into laughter. Antonelli, in trademark deadpan style, kept going: "What a hairdresser. Yeah."
If the slip might have been an isolated wobble, the next answer was not. Mid-question — about being on pole for the 2026 Miami sprint — the Italian simply trailed off and stared away from the microphone.
"What? No, I got distracted by the DJ," Antonelli told the room, before adding by way of explanation: "He looked like Shaquille O'Neal for a second."
When asked, half-amused, whether the DJ should take that as a compliment, Antonelli could only muster: "Um."
The Mercedes media team, who have spent the last few months guarding the rookie's schedule with the care normally reserved for grand-prix winners, must have alternated between cringing and laughing. They will care less now: Antonelli backed it all up with the win on Sunday, his third in succession, to extend his championship lead heading into Canada.
It is the kind of moment that historically helps build a driver's brand far more than another front-row lock-out can. Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Charles Leclerc all became personalities in the eyes of casual fans because of moments precisely like this — unscripted, slightly awkward, utterly likeable. The fact that Antonelli is also currently the fastest driver in the world only sharpens the appeal.
As the teenager himself put it on the slow-down lap after the Sunday race: "Yes, mate." The hairdresser, presumably, was watching.
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*Originally published on [News Formula One](https://newsformula.one/article/antonelli-miami-pole-press-conference-hairdresser-shaquille-oneal-dj-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
