Current Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli has revealed that his father did not want him to become a racing driver after seeing his own career end because of a lack of money.

The Mercedes driver arrives in Austin for the United States Grand Prix 102 points clear in the championship and could become the youngest champion in the history of F1 on Sunday. His father, Marco, a former racing driver who now runs his own Italian GT and Formula 4 teams, has been a regular in the paddock this season.

Asked in the drivers' press conference in Austin how much his father had helped him, and whether it was true he had not wanted his son to race, Antonelli explained: "Yes, my dad is like my rock. He's the one, along with my mum and the rest of the family, that knows me best, and he knows how to handle me in certain situations.

"Growing up, he's been teaching me everything he knew, first of all, about racing, but then now he teaches me more about life. It's really important for me to have someone like him during races, especially in such a big year.

"He's been doing an incredible effort on trying to balance his work, his racing team, and coming to my races, so I really appreciate that from him.

"But when I was little, and before everything even started, he didn't want me to race, because the sport can be very cruel at times, and especially financially, it's a very difficult sport when you don't have the right support.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images

"I will always be very grateful for Mercedes, because they were the one gambling on me when I was very little, and without them, I wouldn't be here today, because they were the one who supported me all the way from karting to now, and they were the one who gave me the opportunities. Without them, I probably wouldn't be here.

"So that's why my dad didn't want me to race, because unfortunately, when he was racing himself, he had to face this reality. He didn't have any financial support, and he couldn't keep on going with his racing career, so that's why he started his own racing team.

"That's why he didn't want me to race, because he didn't want me to face the same kind of disappointments that he had faced back then, and because it was very hard for him to accept it, he just wanted to protect me. But then he saw I had passion, so he decided to give it a go."

Antonelli currently leads the championship with 340 points. His Mercedes team-mate George Russell follows in second with 238 points and Lewis Hamilton is third with 229 points.

The United States Grand Prix will take place from 23-25 October at the Circuit of the Americas.