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The primary look in a Method 1 paddock for Andrea Antonelli, the brand new driver for Mercedes, got here on the 2014 German Grand Prix, when he was 7. It wasn’t approved.
“My dad determined to cover me inside a stack of tires and wheel me by means of on a trolley,” Antonelli, often known as Kimi, mentioned in an interview offered by his crew. His father, Marco, ran a crew that was competing in a help class. “We put an umbrella on high to make me more durable to see! I received by means of and into the pit lane, and my dad’s buddy received me a move. I had a go searching for an hour and it was such a cool expertise.”
Antonelli, who was not out there for an interview, will race for Mercedes six years after he joined its younger driver program. At 18, he would be the youngest driver this season. He handed his highway automotive driving take a look at solely in January.
Antonelli received two Method 4 titles in his first full season in 2022 after which two Method Regional titles in 2023. Antonelli skipped Method 3, heading straight to Method 2 in 2024, the place he received twice, and completed sixth general.
“Because the starting he was instantly quick,” René Rosin, crew principal of Prema Racing, the crew that ran Antonelli for 3 years, mentioned in an interview in February. “There have been some rookie errors, it’s regular, however when he arrived in F4 within the full season he was completely a machine.
“He likes to be near folks and work together with folks, he’s very skilled, he is aware of what he desires to do, he desires to win, he desires to realize the utmost attainable, and when the outcomes aren’t coming he’s upset with himself and at all times tries in a constructive manner to enhance, it’s very a lot a very good mentality.”
Rosin recounted a wet 2023 race at Zandvoort, within the Netherlands, the place Antonelli was “roughly a second quicker than everybody else” in equal equipment and received by “an insane margin,” highlighting his capacity.
When Mercedes discovered final yr that Lewis Hamilton would go away the crew for Ferrari for 2025, Antonelli turned the prime candidate to exchange him. Antonelli launched into an intensive testing program final yr and embedded himself throughout the crew at Grands Prix.
“I’ve been spending numerous time on the manufacturing unit attempting to do numerous crew constructing as effectively,” he mentioned at F1’s launch occasion in February. “However thus far it’s been actually attention-grabbing, and it’s gone effectively. I’ve been actually attempting to focus daily, specializing in the progress and attempting to give attention to attempting to study as many issues as attainable, as a result of what I need to keep away from is arriving to Melbourne and having some unhealthy surprises.” (The season’s first race might be in Australia on March 16.)
Antonelli has massive sneakers to fill. Hamilton’s six titles and 84 victories made it probably the most profitable partnership between one driver and a crew. However Antonelli is adopting a sensible viewpoint.
“I don’t discover it proper to say that I’m his alternative,” Antonelli mentioned, referring to Hamilton. “He has executed a lot within the sport. I really feel [I am] the following Mercedes driver. And I actually need to make my very own story.”
Mercedes is a front-runner, however its fortunes have been combined below the principles that had been launched in 2022. It has received solely 5 races in three years, of which 4 got here in 2024, and its fourth place final yr was its lowest since 2012. That has eased among the strain on Antonelli, with 2025 considered a transition yr forward of recent guidelines in 2026.
“I don’t have numerous expectations to be sincere,” he mentioned. “What I’m actually going to do is attempt to give attention to the method. Attempt to get pleasure from it as effectively. However positively one thing I actually need to do is begin with a very good rhythm and attempt to construct from it. And attempt to be constant.”
Antonelli’s teammate, George Russell, 27, is coming into his seventh season and fourth with Mercedes.
“Once I look again to myself once I was Kimi’s age, I don’t assume you’re any slower, you simply achieve expertise over time,” Russell mentioned on the Mercedes occasion. “You’ve received the pace, you’ve received it. And if you happen to don’t, you don’t. It’s nearly so simple as that. I’m positive Kimi’s going to maintain me on my toes, and we’ll be pushing one another.”
Rosin has guided a number of drivers to Method 1 in recent times, together with Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Pierre Gasly and Oliver Bearman, Antonelli’s Method 2 teammate final yr. Rosin is bound Antonelli will thrive.
“Mainly, each drivers final yr that we had, and Pierre, Charles, Oscar, all of them, they’re all drivers that should be in Method 1 and can show what being a very good driver means,” Rosin mentioned. “I feel he [Antonelli] is a part of this elite group of drivers that they’re there as a result of they deserve it.”
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