Kimi Antonelli has brought his entire class to the Imola GP

Kimi Antonelli has rocked up to the Imola Grand Prix with dozens of his classmates in tow as VIP guests for the weekend. Give that man an A+ immediately.

The 18-year-old is juggling his rookie season while studying for his final exams at the same time, and has previously talked about the help that he gets from his school (just down the road in Bologna) and his friends to make that remotely possible.

So as a thank you, a couple of his teachers and two dozen mates are getting a field trip that blows your average local museum visit out of the water.

“Yeah, I organised this,” said Antontelli. “Thanks also to some people at Mercedes. Rosa [Herrera Venegas], who’s in the room as well, helped. We were able to organise this for the school. I think it’s a good way for them to see with their own eyes this world.

“They used to watch the races on TV, but didn’t actually know what’s going on behind it. I think it’s a really good experience and I really hope they enjoy it.

“We’ve organised some activities – later on I’ll show them the car and explain a bit, without going too much into detail. It’s a good way to keep the relationship because I don’t spend much time at home, so I don’t see them often. These little things can make the difference.”

This might be his last chance too: the 2025 edition of race at Imola might be the last, with its contract expiring this year and no word of a renewal in the pipeline. At least we won’t have to go to the trouble of not calling it the AWS Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell’Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix any more.

“I would love for it to stay on the calendar,” said Kimi. “It's such a unique track. As I said before, it’s technical, not easy, especially over one lap, to put everything together. It’s old school, quite bumpy. All things that make it special. The history of this track is incredible.”

Maybe if someone builds some high-rise buildings around it, F1 will think it’s a street circuit and keep it on the calendar?