The primary look in a System 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 on a trolley,” Antonelli, also called Kimi, stated in an interview offered by his workforce. His father, Marco, ran a workforce that was competing in a help class. “We put an umbrella on high to make me more durable to see! I acquired by and into the pit lane, and my dad’s pal acquired me a cross. I had a go searching for an hour and it was such a cool expertise.”
Antonelli, who was not obtainable 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 street automotive driving check solely in January.
Antonelli gained two System 4 titles in his first full season in 2022 after which two System Regional titles in 2023. Antonelli skipped System 3, heading straight to System 2 in 2024, the place he gained twice, and completed sixth total.
“For the reason that starting he was instantly quick,” René Rosin, workforce principal of Prema Racing, the workforce that ran Antonelli for 3 years, stated 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 attain the utmost potential, and when the outcomes will not be coming he’s upset with himself and all the time tries in a optimistic method to enhance, it’s very a lot 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 gained by “an insane margin,” highlighting his capability.
When Mercedes realized final yr that Lewis Hamilton would go away the workforce for Ferrari for 2025, Antonelli turned the prime candidate to switch him. Antonelli launched into an in depth testing program final yr and embedded himself inside the workforce at Grands Prix.
“I’ve been spending plenty of time on the manufacturing unit attempting to do plenty of workforce constructing as effectively,” he stated at F1’s launch occasion in February. “However up to now it’s been actually fascinating, and it’s gone effectively. I’ve been actually attempting to focus day-to-day, specializing in the progress and attempting to deal with attempting to study as many issues as potential, as a result of what I wish to keep away from is arriving to Melbourne and having some unhealthy surprises.” (The season’s first race will probably be in Australia on March 16.)
Antonelli has massive footwear to fill. Hamilton’s six titles and 84 victories made it probably the most profitable partnership between one driver and a workforce. However Antonelli is adopting a sensible viewpoint.
“I don’t discover it proper to say that I’m his substitute,” Antonelli stated, referring to Hamilton. “He has accomplished a lot within the sport. I really feel [I am] the following Mercedes driver. And I actually wish to make my very own story.”
Mercedes is a front-runner, however its fortunes have been blended beneath the foundations that had been launched in 2022. It has gained 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 a few of the strain on Antonelli, with 2025 thought to be a transition yr forward of recent guidelines in 2026.
“I don’t have plenty of expectations to be trustworthy,” he stated. “What I’m actually going to do is attempt to deal with the method. Attempt to take pleasure in it as effectively. However positively one thing I actually wish to do is begin with rhythm and attempt to construct from it. And attempt to be constant.”
Antonelli’s teammate, George Russell, 27, is getting into his seventh season and fourth with Mercedes.
“After I look again to myself once I was Kimi’s age, I don’t assume you’re any slower, you simply acquire expertise over time,” Russell stated on the Mercedes occasion. “You’ve acquired the pace, you’ve acquired it. And for those who don’t, you don’t. It’s virtually 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 System 1 lately, together with Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Pierre Gasly and Oliver Bearman, Antonelli’s System 2 teammate final yr. Rosin is certain Antonelli will thrive.
“Principally, each drivers final yr that we had, and Pierre, Charles, Oscar, all of them, they’re all drivers that should be in System 1 and can exhibit what being driver means,” Rosin stated. “I believe he [Antonelli] is a part of this elite group of drivers that they’re there as a result of they deserve it.”
