Why MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi is backing Kimi Antonelli over Ferrari in F1 2026

MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi has thrown his backing behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli over his beloved Ferrari for the 2026 Formula 1 world championship.

Rossi, a seven-time world champion in the premier MotoGP class, naturally supports Ferrari as an Italian but wants to see his fellow countryman Antonelli prevail in the F1 title fight this year. 

Antonelli has won five of the nine races so far this season and currently leads the championship by 25 points over Mercedes team-mate George Russell. 

Ferrari is also having a better season, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both picking up victories in the past three rounds, leaving seven-time world champion Hamilton just 32 points behind Antonelli, and Ferrari 78 points adrift of Mercedes in the constructors’ championship. 

But Rossi wants to see Antonelli become just the third Italian to win the F1 world championship, after Giuseppe Farina and Alberto Ascari, who was the last to do it in 1953 - over 70 years ago. 

"You can imagine in Italy with Ferrari, that is like a religion. But I am more a driver fan. So I am with Kimi now,” Rossi told Sky Sports F1 in an interview ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. 

“He’s a great talent. He has a lot of speed and in Italy we never have a Formula 1 driver that can win the championship in the last 70 years. So this is very special.”

Rossi famously took part in an F1 test with Ferrari in both 2004 and 2005, sparking rumours of a potential blockbuster switch from two wheels to four, though such a move never materialised. 

Since retiring from MotoGP action, Rossi has competed in sportscars as a BMW factory driver.

Rossi recently spoke about the possibility of contesting the Nurburgring 24 Hours in the future, where he could find himself racing against four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen. 

“Yes, because it now looks like you can get the permit done in a single weekend," he said. "We are in talks with BMW to organise everything. The Nurburgring 24 Hours is definitely on my bucket list. I hope we can make it happen with BMW.”