During the Italian GP weekend, Mercedes confirmed the signing of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but is he the right choice to replace the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton?
The start of the 2024 silly season dates back to the beginning of February, when Ferrari announced the signing of Hamilton. This move created many possible scenarios in the drivers’ market, and people started wondering who would replace the British driver at Mercedes, alongside George Russell.
The first option seemed Carlos Sainz, an experienced driver who could bring his know-how to a team that has been struggling since 2022 with the new regulations, even though it has now found a way to be more competitive.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said that the team had no rush in signing a new driver and considering how tense the situation was at Red Bull, some also thought that Max Verstappen could join the Silver Arrows soon.
Those, of course, were all speculations since the Brackley-based outfit didn’t release any official announcements. Meanwhile, time passed, and the puzzle pieces started coming together as every team started announcing their future drivers for the next season.
Then, at the start of the summer break, Williams announced that Sainz would be driving for them after this season ends, leaving even fewer choices for Mercedes. Meanwhile, as the Italian GP weekend got closer and closer, rumors spread that Antonelli had already signed a contract with the Silver Arrows, and it would be made official during the weekend in Monza.
And indeed that is what actually happened. On Saturday, August 31st, Mercedes announced that the Italian 18-year-old would replace Hamilton starting in 2025. Antonelli has a rather interesting story, so let’s understand who he is and how he reached Formula 1 at such a young age.
Born to win
At the age of seven, Antonelli started his career with karts. Already from the start, he showed his skills and demonstrated that he was born to do one thing: win.
He won in many categories and championships: He has won the Easykart International Grand Final (Easy 60), South Garda Winter Cup, WSK Champions Cup, WSK Super Master Series, WSK Euro Series, and was crowned CIK-FIA Karting European Champion twice in a row in 2020 and 2021.
He then moved up to the Formula 4 category, racing for Prema, where he showed his talent right from the start. Furthermore, he battled with more experienced drivers, collected four wins, and finished fourth in the rookies’ category even though he didn’t take part in all the races of the championship.
The following season, his winning tally reached 13 race victories in the Italian F4 series, allowing him to clinch the Formula 4 title. Not only that, he also won the ADAC Formula 4 Championship, dominating that series, too.
In 2023, he competed in the Formula Regional European Championship, where he also won many races and won the championship by 39 points.
Antonelli then went directly from Formula 4 to Formula 2, where he debuted in 2024 with Prema. He also admitted that he didn’t want to set expectations, as the lack of experience meant he could have a difficult year. So far, he hasn’t dominated as he did previously, but he still claimed a sprint race victory in Silverstone and a feature race win in Hungary.
During the 2024 season, not only did Antonelli debut in F2, but he also initiated his private testing with Formula 1 cars with Mercedes. He drove both the W12 and the W13 at the Red Bull Ring and in Imola. Then, he made his official debut in Formula 1 during the Italian GP FP1 session, which didn’t last long as he crashed just a few minutes after the start.
Wolff’s gamble
Despite that, Mercedes and Wolff had already decided that the young Italian talent was the right fit for the team’s future and announced he would be driving for them starting in 2025.
To better understand whether Antonelli could be the right driver for Mercedes, many factors need to be considered. First of all, the 2025 season is a transition year since it will be the fourth and last one with the current regulations, launching the teams toward a new era for the sport.
That means that teams will have a better understanding of the regulations, and a driver’s experience to guide the engineers in the right direction to better develop the car won’t be a key requirement. Therefore, Antonelli’s lack of experience shouldn’t put Mercedes on the back foot next season.
Furthermore, the Italian will have an entire year to adapt to Formula 1 before the new 2026 rules debut. That should allow him to be on a more similar level with other drivers when everybody will be required to adapt to a new type of machinery and regulations.
Not only that, with Sainz going to Williams, there weren’t other top-team drivers available. Therefore, Wolff decided to gable on the young Italian, something which he admitted he had already decided “five minutes after Hamilton’s Ferrari move”. Mercedes could have signed Sainz earlier this year, but with a fresh start just two years ahead, a younger driver to build the team’s future on seemed a better option.
Surely, Wolff didn’t want to miss another opportunity to sign what could be the next generational talent. In fact, back in 2014, Mercedes boss met with Verstappen and his father, Jos, but since the Brackley-based outfit didn’t have a junior program they couldn’t sign the Dutch driver, who then went to Toro Rosso and then Red Bull.
“Obviously, we were discussing other options and also kept the Max idea,” added Wolff. “We didn’t discount it completely with looking at what happened at Red Bull, but instinctively, that is the line-up with these two that I always wanted.
“These two are the future. They have been and will be Mercedes drivers, and therefore we have contracts with George and Kimi that go much longer, that are very complicated in terms of options, etc.
“This is a pressure cooker, but this is where we stand as a team today, we want to go with these two. The most important thing is to see how George and Kimi settle in, and I see no reason at that stage not giving them the faith and the trust of going forward.
“What that means for the terms is something that we will discuss between ourselves, but we wouldn’t have gone for the line-up with these two if we wouldn’t believe 100% that they are the best choice for Mercedes.”
Antonelli could really be the next big thing in Formula 1, and the previous results of his career demonstrate it. Of course, he still has a lot to show to be considered a future star of the sport, but he has all the support of the Mercedes family and, especially, of Toto Wolff.
Finally, all things considered, if Mercedes can build a competitive car in the future as it did between 2014 and 2021, Antonelli could be one of the candidates to win one (or more) titles. Finding a kid with such raw speed is not something easy, and Mercedes’ gamble on such a good prospect might easily pay off in the future, as it did for Red Bull with Verstappen.