The F1 record-breaker with lessons to learn

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has admitted he was taking a risk when he opted to name rookie teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli as the man to step into the cockpit of Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton.

Even if Mercedes has been knocked off its perch during the ground effect era, the seat vacated by Formula 1’s statistically best-ever driver was always going to be sought after.

Wolff had flirted with Max Verstappen, enraging Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner in the process, while other names were also linked. Verstappen, ultimately, stayed put and it was Antonelli, racing in Formula 2 with Prema at the time, who was promoted into the most intense of spotlights.

But the groundswell of support that poured out following his pole lap for the sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix spoke volumes about both the man and his potential in F1. “We were willing to take that risk even if it meant mistakes,” enthused Wolff. “And now we’re being rewarded for our courage.”

As the youngest driver to take pole position in any format of a world championship F1 race, 18-year-old Antonelli was met out of the car by Mercedes team-mate George Russell before heading to the garage where Wolff and race engineer Peter Bonnington were among the well-wishers.

As the team toasted what Wolff described as a “mini-pole”, given it was for the Saturday sprint rather than a full-length grand prix, it felt as though the ‘when’ moment – as opposed to the ‘if’ – had arrived in Miami Gardens.

Mercedes chose not to make a drama out of Antonelli's Monza FP1 crash

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Antonelli, born and raised almost in the shadow of Imola, was 11 years old when he was signed to the Mercedes driver academy, emerging as a precocious racer under the stewardship of talent scout Gwen Lagrue.

Antonelli’s star was on the rise from that point on but, when rumours began to swirl that he would be the man to replace seven-time world champion Hamilton for the 2025 season, eyebrows – from those on the outside, at least – were raised.

An open secret for a long time ahead of the official announcement at the end of August, Antonelli’s unveiling was somewhat overshadowed by a huge crash on his maiden F1 outing during the first free practice session at the Italian GP.

“I wouldn’t say it was a mistake, but I think we weren’t completely right in assessing the pressures that he could find himself under” Toto Wolff 

After showing some impressive speed straight out of the pits, it all went wrong for Antonelli just 10 minutes into the session when he crashed out at Parabolica while pushing too hard, too soon. Wolff was quick to divert any blame.

“I wouldn’t say it was a mistake, but I think we weren’t completely right in assessing the pressures that he could find himself under,” he admitted.

“He has been brilliant in testing. He has never put a foot wrong in the many thousands of kilometres that he’s done. But it’s a different ball game if you’re an Italian driver, you’re 18 years old in Monza and it’s your first opportunity.

Wolff believes Antonelli is rewarding the faith that has been put in him

Photo by: Mercedes-Benz

“He was so quick, and that was his first session in Italy, about to be announced as a driver, which everybody pre-empted. I like his approach. He’s fast on the first lap out of the pits, and that is what he’s demonstrated.

“Obviously he was too fast for the condition of the track and for the car at that stage, so it was balancing the ambition, the motivation and the skill versus also the experience that FP1 is FP1. I knew that that was going to hurt him, that was going to hurt him emotionally.”

F2 chief executive Bruno Michel has seen up close what Antonelli is capable of – he is one of several drivers he has watched come through the ranks and progress to F1 seats this season. Michel is impressed by Wolff’s reaction to the Monza crash and believes that Antonelli can make the most of having a frontrunning car at his disposal.

“Kimi is an incredible talent, so when he got to F1 and he did the FP1 in Monza and he crashed, it happens, you know,” shrugs Michel. “There’s nothing you can say about that. It was the first time he got in the car. Toto had a fantastic reaction. He said, ‘No worries. You know, it’s OK.’ Not starting to put more pressure. 

“I think they need to know how to manage the pressure, that’s for sure. Kimi, of course, arrived in a team with a car that’s going to be in the top of Formula 1. So he’s got to deliver. And this is compared to George, who has been with Mercedes for quite a long time. I’m sure the other rookies that are coming into F1, they would love to have a great car.”

Another of Michel’s F2 pool who made the full-time step up as a rookie this year is Ollie Bearman, the Haas driver who was Antonelli’s team-mate at Prema Racing last season.

Antonelli made history securing pole position for the Miami sprint race

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

“I know him very well from last year in Formula 2 and we pushed each other forward and had a tough season together, but what was clear was his speed,” states 20-year-old Bearman. “So I had no doubt about him getting into Formula 1.

“Of course, he’s up against a great team-mate and a very quick one, but he’s already very close to George. But like I said, I’m not surprised. I think it’s only a matter of time. He’s very talented.”

Unperturbed by the Parabolica write-off while the ink was still drying on Antonelli’s F1 contract, Mercedes ran him in free practice in Mexico and again at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi.

“It’s a great opportunity, it’s a privilege to be where I am today. I’m just trying to make the best out of this” Andrea Kimi Antonelli

By that point, Hamilton had raced his last grand prix for a team at which he won six of his seven drivers’ crowns, and Antonelli was ramping up preparations to continue his own career, keen to stress that he did not see himself as the second coming.

“I don’t find it right to say I’m his replacement,” he said of Hamilton. “He has done so much in the sport, and I just feel like the next Mercedes driver, and I really want to make my own story.

“Definitely, racing for Mercedes is a big responsibility because it’s obviously a top team, but at the same time it’s a great opportunity, it’s a privilege to be where I am today. I’m just trying to make the best out of this.”

Ex-Prema Racing team-mate Bearman rates Antonelli highly

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Antonelli went on to finish fourth on his F1 race debut at the Australian GP, and took seventh and sixth respectively in the sprint and grand prix in China. But it was in Japan where he arguably showed what he might ultimately be capable of.

He may have only finished sixth, with Verstappen’s stunning display grabbing the headlines, but Antonelli broke two records in the process, becoming the youngest driver in F1 history to lead a lap and set the fastest lap.

If that was a glimpse of the ability waiting to be harnessed, Antonelli delivered an all-out preview in the United States. He had looked rapid throughout Friday afternoon’s sprint qualifying session in Miami, and his late run of 1m26.482s was enough to withstand a last-ditch effort by McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Since this feature was published in the July 2025 issue of Autosport magazine, Antonelli has scored his maiden grand prix podium when he took third place in Canada, passing championship leader Oscar Piastri on the opening lap and defending the position to the flag.

The lap in Miami led to the explosion of joy on the Antonelli side of the Mercedes garage. As well as his pat on the back from Russell, the Italian had his father, Marco, present and later enjoyed an emotional phone call with his mother back home.

“We are one family,” Antonelli Sr smiled. “We transmit that in life, you need to work, always. Very hard and not complain before you understand. We are a normal family that works every day. And I think that Kimi understood this, and this [result] is a very big pleasure for us.”

Wolff, in his own way of approaching the achievement, was quick to call out Antonelli’s detractors, while also keeping the celebrations to a minimum. “There were a lot of voices, even within the sport, suggesting he should have a preparation year at Williams or somewhere similar,” he said.

Antonelli concedes that he didn’t handle the pressure well at home circuit Imola

Photo by: Getty Images

“But for us it was clear: we wanted to give him that year of preparation within our own team, so that he’d be ready for next year when the new regulations come in and he already knows all the circuits.

“We always said there would be mistakes. But he’s kept developing steadily and hasn’t made those errors, though they will come at some point. But the mileage he’s put in is now paying off, and that’s what’s allowing him to perform at this level.”

For his part, Russell has taken over from Hamilton in terms of being leader of the team and has enjoyed his own fine start to a season in which McLaren has the fastest car and Verstappen is still wrangling plenty out of his Red Bull.

“He’s learning week in, week out, so I’m excited to see how he progresses throughout the season” George Russell

Now in his seventh season in F1 – and his fourth with Mercedes – Russell insists he has not been caught out by Antonelli’s displays, and that he was well aware of the talk surrounding him: “I had high expectations because I know how good he is. The performances we’ve seen from him, especially the first race in Melbourne, weren’t a surprise to me, but may have been a surprise to others.

“He’s an exceptional driver, working exceptionally hard, and Formula 1 isn’t easy, but in terms of pure speed he’s definitely got it. Of course, he’s learning week in, week out, so I’m excited to see how he progresses throughout the season.

“I think he knows that he’s got a lot more in the locker to bring, and I know as well that the experience that I have now after seven years, he’s not going to have that [yet].

Team-mate Russell praises the quality of Antonelli’s start to the season

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

“So I know that he’s going to be bringing more performance throughout the season, but I don’t think he could have hoped for a much more rounded start.”

Antonelli’s Imola weekend, one where he would have wanted to banish any lingering ghosts from his huge shunt at Monza, was his worst in F1 so far. He struggled for pace and only managed to qualify in 13th with a laptime almost a second off Russell’s Q3 effort. Then he was forced to retire from the race with a throttle issue.

What it gave to Antonelli, though, was a lesson that the step from F2 to F1 comes with fresh challenges off the track as well as on it.

“I think they learn in F3 and they learn in F2 how to manage the pressure, but in Formula 1 it’s completely different because the exposure is much bigger, the visibility,” points out Michel.

With Antonelli recently featuring in his own Netflix documentary, interest in him reached fever pitch at his home grand prix, and after the race he conceded that the added interest could have played a part in how the weekend worked out.

“I absolutely love the support of the fans – I just think on my side I didn’t manage the energy that well, and that definitely compromised the performance on track,” he admitted. “But it was a really good lesson, because I could feel it. I was not as relaxed; I was a bit more tense while driving. So ahead of the next home race, it was a really good lesson.”

Monaco was next up for Antonelli and it proved to be consecutive tough weekends as he ended up in the barrier at the Nouvelle chicane in qualifying and starting 15th before Williams’s blocking and Mercedes’ questionable strategy saw him finish a lowly 18th.

Life, especially at the top, comes at you fast – but overall Antonelli seems to be quick enough to cope.

This article is one of many in the new monthly issue of Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the July 2025 issue and subscribe today.

Dad Marco was on hand to celebrate sprint qualifying coup in Miami

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images