The French call him “le petit prince italien” (the little Italian prince). It’s impossible to argue with that. It took just five races for him to win the hearts of all Italians and beyond. Andrea Kimi Antonelli unites everyone—even his direct rivals like Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who, with their combined eleven world titles, were the first to congratulate him.

It is impossible not to love him. Le petit prince is small only on his birth certificate: 19 years old and already boasting a record of successes, the latest achieved on a magical Saturday in Monte Carlo. He is now the youngest pole-sitter on the iconic streets of Monaco, where all the great Formula 1 champions have written history.

Once the helmet is on, he drives like a veteran through the narrow streets of a track that seems impossible for F1 cars—and even for his Mercedes, which, for the first time this year, was not the favorite.

The cheers in the stands were all for Charles, the true prince of Monte Carlo, but the roar for Kimi’s pole position was just as authentic.

The Mercedes team celebrates and rallies around a boy who quickly became a man under the frantic pace of the F1 Circus, which forgives no mistakes.

“It was a magical lap,” he responds, almost in a state of trance, “for an hour, I couldn’t stop shaking.” His boldness on the track, the sweetness of his expression, and the natural charm of the young Bolognese are highly reminiscent of Senna—fittingly, the Italian’s idol.

Ayrton once defined qualifying in Monaco as an “out-of-body experience.” Kimi confesses: “It was what we call a magical lap.” Just 43 thousandths of a second faster than the relentless Max Verstappen—a blink of an eye in normal life, an eternity in F1.

Lewis Hamilton finished third, while Charles Leclerc was betrayed by a mistake while fighting for pole. Kimi also takes away Leclerc’s record as the youngest driver to secure the fastest lap on his home track (the Monégasque set it in 2021 at 23 years old).

Today is the race.