Lewis Hamilton shares heartwarming tribute for Kimi Antonelli after the Italian secured his first podium at the F1 Miami GP

Lewis Hamilton has shared a beautiful tribute for Kimi Antonelli after the Italian driver picked up his first pole position for Mercedes on Friday, May 2. The young Italian has joined the sport with a lot of hype behind him.

He was first fast-tracked by Toto Wolff from FRECA to Formula 2 and then jumped straight to a seat with Mercedes. Having an 18-year-old drive at the front is a risk for the team, but it was also a challenge for the driver as well, as there were many who were not in favor of the call.

The Italian got his first big moment in the sprint shootout on Friday when he secured pole position for the F1 Miami GP sprint. Hamilton was also seen sharing his post on Instagram and congratulating the driver and the team.

After securing a podium in the sprint, Lewis Hamilton was in the press conference where he was questioned about the post, to which he said that he loved the story of the underdog that Kimi Antonelli has had this season.

"I posted because it made me really...last night I saw the video of Bono and Kimi and Toto. And it generally just brought warmth to my heart because honestly, I've been in that team for a long, long time."

"Bono is just the best. And I know there was a lot of questions around whether or not to take on a more experienced driver. To then just continue on and continue to work hard and then get a pole, it kind of silences all the critics. I love to see that in an underdog. It's such a great story," Lewis Hamilton added via Motorsport.

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Lewis Hamilton on Kimi Antonelli's botched start in the sprint

Kimi Antonelli didn't have the best start in the sprint, and while he had started the race on pole position, he was more or less pushed off track by Oscar Piastri, who ended up taking over the lead from the Italian.

The Mercedes driver would drop to P4 early on, and things would unravel from that point onwards for him to secure a non-points finish. Lewis Hamilton felt that the driver would learn from the move as he said:

"I've not seen the race start, but it was the trickiest of conditions. And we haven't had any running in the rain here. So that was definitely a very, very tough scenario. Also to have the two fastest right beside you is going to be very tough always. I heard it was close in Turn 1. I would just say to continue to do what he's doing. I think he knows what he's doing and just continue to enjoy it."

Lewis Hamilton, for his part, had a storming Sprint race where he made the right call to switch to slicks and made his way up to P3 in the race.