He came into this weekend insisting he was going to try to apply “the same mindset I’ve had all year – one race at a time”.
But on Saturday, he acknowledged that this was a new kind of weekend.
“It’s a little different,” he said. “But the goal remains the same. I just have to keep doing my job. And, actually, I feel like I can enjoy driving more, everything.”
“But of course we’re going to race tomorrow. We’re going to try to win. And then we’ll see what happens. Obviously I’m in a very good position.”
Antonelli is usually accompanied by his father, Marco, at grands prix, but he said this weekend that he also brought others with him to help him stay in the right frame of mind.
“I have a great group of people around me,” he said. “I also have a lot of friends here, so we enjoy the evenings together.
“We play cards in the evening, so we just do fun things. And that’s what helps, just relaxing a little bit and connecting with the spirit, and then once you’re on track, you’re fully focused again.”
The calculations suggest the most likely scenario is that Antonelli doesn’t win the title on Sunday – that would require, as he said on Thursday, “something catastrophic to happen to the others.”
While that’s a bit of an exaggeration – Russell and Hamilton would just have to crash together on the opening lap, for example – the fundamental truth is real.
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