Andrea Kimi Antonelli was more nervous than he had been for a while. The career of a racing administration can often depend on sliding doors moments such as this one.
The 18-year-old did not try to secure a Formula 1 drive. He completed that mission months ago when he signed at Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton.
He was about to hold his driving test.
Thirty minutes later the Italian teenager shone under his mop curly hair and raised a thumb to the camera. He was taken over – the first time of course. It would not be necessary to press in another test between the hectic travel requirements of the F1 calendar. And the ‘honor’ to be an active F1 driver without a road permit – ever for Max Verstappen, who debuted at the age of 17 – will not apply to Antonelli.
It was an early dose of pressure that was treated well by the driver who will debut for Mercedes on March 16 at the Australian Grand Prix and entered the cockpit by Hamilton, a seven -time world champion 21 years Antonelli’s senior.
Antonelli knows that he cannot expect that he will emulate Hamilton’s 12-year-old run at Mercedes, which yielded six world championships and 84 racing wins to become the most successful partnership for driver team in F1 history. But he takes on all the support he can for his debut season.
“I am the next Mercedes driver and I take a seat of someone who has written history in sport, so it’s a great privilege,” Antonelli said Athletics In an interview. “It’s a big responsibility, but I have the right people around me.”
Cars have always been a central part of the life of Antonelli.
His father, Marco, looked at how young Kimi played with toy cars and decided to take him at five o’clock.
Kimi immediately fell in love with the feeling of speed. (Antonelli goes with his middle name, who is not related to the world champion Kimi Raikkonen from 2007.) Yet Marco, who is still racing in sports cars with his own GT team, initially competing throughout Europe, was initially competing, initially wary of striving for it seriously. He did not want Kimi to be injured in what a ruthless world could be.
“Sometimes motorsport can be cruel,” said Antonelli. “He was afraid that I would have been hurt by disappointment, so he wanted to avoid that. But when I saw that I really loved driving and really loved the sport, he decided to try it. He saw, without really told him, that I had the passion for motorsport. ‘
That love was promoted by father-and-son Sundays spent looking at F1 races together. While Antonelli would have grown up watching Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, his racing heroes are much further back. His father showed him the famous race between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux in Dijon in 1979, considered by many as the greatest on-track battle of all time, which gave him an appreciation for the history of sport from a young age.
“It was just great,” said Antonelli. “You see how different it was, compared to now, the safety, the cars. You also appreciate the way the drivers still fought on the rails, even though they knew that the cars were not as safe as today. They still went for it and you really appreciate those fighting. ‘
Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna emerged as the favorite drivers of Antonelli, partly thanks to their persistent style on the track. “Ayrton is my hero, but Villeneuve, now I understand why my father was such a big fan of him,” said Antonelli. “He was a lion on the track.”
After first using 12 as his RaceGan in Formula Four, Antonelli opted for his F1 debut season as a nod to Senna, who raced by 12 to the first four years of his career, including his first championship season in 1988. By chance , Villeneuve also raced with 12 in 1978 and 1979.
While the history lessons Antonelli then received a child from the track, on the circuit, he quickly excel and stood out of the Go-Karting Ladder. His progress put him on the radar of top talents scouts, including Gwen Lagrue, Mercedes’ Junior Guru. This led Antonelli to met the Antonelli at the age of 11 Mercedes Team -Director Toto Wolff before he signed at the age of 13 at the Young Driver program.
It was the character of Antonelli, as well as his power that impressed Wolff. By the time he went up to single-seaters and continued to win everything on which he put his hands on, including both the Italian and German F4 titles in his first year before the regional title of the formula in 2023, it was clear that The teenager had something of something special. In the long term, a place in the future has always been Mercedes F1 -Line -Up next to George Russell in the spirit of the team’s management. It was just a matter of timing.
When Hamilton, who expected many to end his career at Mercedes, revealed in January that he would leave for Ferrari in 2025, it took five minutes to decide that Antonelli, then only 17, would be the man to replace him.
“We have a great relationship, not only professional, but also outside the track,” Antonelli said about Wolff. “He is a great guy, really supportive at great moments, but also during difficult moments. I am super happy to be with him. He gave me a lot of help. “
Wolff has even entrusted Antonelli to teach his six-year-old son, Jack, how to go. “He’s not bad, he has improved a lot,” said Antonelli. “He got better every test. It was nice to see. “
Antonelli leaves his car after crashing during his first practice session, prior to the Italian Grand Prix in 2024 (Gabriel Bouys / AFP via Getty Images)
The only thing that both Wolff and Mercedes would like to avoid is to exert too much pressure or expectations on Antonelli. A crash only a few minutes after his first F1 exercise in Monza, one day before it was announced in the chair of 2025, was swept away as part of the learning curve. Mercedes does not expect an 18-year-old to replicate what Hamilton has achieved.
Debuting for such a controversial team at such a young age is rare in F1. Usually young drivers get their first chance through the grid to learn the ropes and make a name for them before they prove that they are ready for an upper chair. Russell spent three years with Williams before he received the Mercedes Drive. Red Bull initially placed Verstappen with his sister team, Toro Rosso, before promoting him during his second season.
The only great, successful exception to the rule in recent F1 history is that the man will replace Antonelli: Hamilton. He was given a McLaren seat for his debut season in 2007 and came within a point of winning the championship as Rookie. It is an impossible high bar, there is no expectation that Antonelli will meet.
The youth of Antonelli meant that his step up to F1 needed an extra degree of preparation. In addition to his Formula Two Racing obligations last year, he performed an extensive amount (just under 20 days) private tests in old cars, with his pace that impressed the engineering team. Antonelli was also able to join the Mercedes Engineering Crew during the second half of the season and got to know the voices and faces that he will lean on until 2025.
Antonelli not only feels a responsibility towards Mercedes, but also to his native Italy. Although the nation has a rich, unparalleled history in Motorsport, with Ferrari becoming a de facto national team, it has not produced a world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953, nor a Grand Prix winner since Giancarlo Fisichella’s last success in 2006 with Renault.
“Of course there is much more hype, on the way to the next season,” said Antonelli. “Absolutely, you feel a little responsibility because you know you have Italy behind you. Everyone expects me to be successful, especially since I will race a Mercedes.
“But it’s really exciting. I can’t wait until next year get started and I can’t wait for my home race at Imola. I would like to see so many Italians cheer. ‘The pieces of red for Ferrari that usually cover the stands of Imola can be alternated this year with Mercedes’ silver and black.
At Imola, Monza and then the adjustment to fame will be difficult for Antonelli to really prepare until it happens. He is already recognized much more. Fans stopped him every few steps when he walked through Milan Malpensa Airport last year from his flight from Heathrow; Antonelli was gracious every time for selfies. He admitted that in the beginning it felt ‘a bit strange’, but he knows it is part of the work. “If you get used to it, it’s normal.”
Antonelli, 18, and Bearman, 19, will become a member of the F1 -Raster this year. (Joe Portlock / Getty images)
Normally in F1, yes, but Antonelli is still a teenager – part of the new talent of F1 that has transformed the look and has dramatically reduced the average age of the schedule for 2025. Away from racing, he likes to play Padel (the cooking hobby of the hobby for a large part of the grid) and has already enjoyed a number of lively competitions with his new teammate, Russell. But he also likes to keep sharp by mapping or even Racing Sim with his friends.
An endearing element of the rise of Antonelli last year was his friendship with his F2 teammate Ollie Bearman, who will also graduate this year to F1 with Haas. Both racing for Prema, they made several nice videos on social media and turned away a good relationship. It is something that Antonelli hopes that they will both help if they make the leap to F1.
“He is a great guy, he is soon,” Antonelli said about the Bearman. “I learned a lot from him. I’m glad I share the grid with him next year. Because we will be new next year, especially in the beginning, only the fact that we know each other and we race together, it will help. “
When it comes to dealing with the jump to F1, Antonelli will look at all the support he can get. Although this year he will be one of the six rookies in the entire season on the F1 network, he and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson, who already have 11 races to his name, will probably attract the most attention to the fact that they are with front Running teams that won races last year.
It makes preparations for Antonelli all the more important. Mercedes starts 2025 to find the consistency that it was missing for so many last year. Russell will change in the role of team leader after the departure of Hamilton, but for Antonelli it is about getting the basis and the opportunity not to let him law. “It will be a big season ahead,” said Antonelli.
Now, with his driver’s license, the youngest row of F1 is ready for everything.
(Top photo: Clive Rose/Getty images)