Antonelli’s rapid F1 rise
Mercedes promotes 17-year-old as Hamilton’s successor
11.06.2024, 15:50
Mercedes’ tiny hope of being able to get Max Verstappen away from Red Bull has not come true. Instead, the Silver Arrows are now presenting a 17-year-old as the successor to record world champion Lewis Hamilton. Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be in the Mercedes from 2025.
If you look at the Formula 1 record lists, you can’t ignore Lewis Hamilton. Most world championship titles, most wins, most pole positions, but also most races with one team. The Brit has competed in 231 Grand Prix weekends for Mercedes since he moved from McLaren to the Silvers in 2013. The fact that he will be racing for big rival Ferrari from 2025 shocked the motorsport world in the spring and left Mercedes with the question of how to replace such a driving legend.
Now team boss Toto Wolff & Co. have found a solution: Andrea Kimi Antonelli is moving up to the premier class after just one year in Formula 2. Media reports correspond with information from RTL/ntv, according to which the 17-year-old Italian will be promoted to George Russell’s team-mate next season. There had been speculation about this since the announcement of Hamilton’s departure. However, it seemed unclear for a long time whether Mercedes would take the risk of exposing such a young driver to such a pressure situation.
However, team boss Wolff had already indicated on the sidelines of the Canadian Grand Prix at the weekend that the Silver Arrows were looking for a long-term solution. Carlos Sainz, who has to make way for Hamilton at Ferrari, was therefore cancelled, said Wolff: “We haven’t made a decision for next year yet, but we didn’t want to keep Carlos waiting because he has to make the decisions himself.” The Austrian also hinted at what this decision will look like: “We have now taken a path to say that we want to reinvent ourselves a little in the future.”
Antonelli, who celebrates his 18th birthday on August 25, has already tested old Silver Arrow cars in the recent past and has apparently made a lasting impression. In the current season, the Mercedes junior is competing in Formula 2 and is in sixth place in the overall standings after five race weekends. In 2022, he dominated the Italian Formula 4 Championship (with 13 wins in 20 races) and the ADAC Formula 4 (9 wins in 15 races), and in 2023 he also won the titles in Formula Regional European and Formula Regional Middle East. That’s why he skipped Formula 3 and can now prove himself in Formula 2.
Lewis Hamilton also recently had words of praise for the 17-year-old and recommended him as his successor. In May he said that he did not know Mercedes’ plans, “but if it were my job, I would probably take Kimi.” In the wake of the turmoil at Red Bull – the scandal surrounding the abusive behavior of team boss Christian Horner and the departure of designer icon Adrian Newey – Mercedes had also speculated on a move by world champion Max Verstappen. But now Antonelli is to help lead the German manufacturer’s factory team back to the top.