Since Saturday morning, the Mercedes cat is finally out of the bag. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was announced as the successor to record world champion Lewis Hamilton during the Formula 1 GP in Italy. The Silver Arrows' shooting star has already been the favorite for the place alongside George Russell in recent weeks – at the latest, it became clear that Max Verstappen will definitely stay with Red Bull in 2025.
Toto Wolff stressed that Verstappen was only a secondary idea. He had already planned for Antonelli to take the cockpit in the winter. “I decided [für Antonelli] Five minutes after Lewis told me he was going to Ferrari,” the Austrian claimed, but added: “Of course we discussed other options and didn't completely discard the Max idea when you look at what was going on at Red Bull.” But instinctively I knew it was this driver pairing that I always wanted.
Direct promotion instead of apprenticeship: Antonelli comes directly to Mercedes
Antonelli's direct promotion from Formula 2 represents a break in Mercedes' youth strategy. In the past, Toto Wolff's team always tried to develop drivers slowly at smaller teams before potentially promoting them. Drivers like Pascal Wehrlein or Esteban Ocon were unable to take the final step, and George Russell spent three years at Williams before moving to the factory team.
A mistake, as Wolff said in retrospect: “We learned a lesson with Kimi. George was perhaps at Williams for a little too long.” Instead of planning an apprenticeship at a smaller Formula 1 team, Mercedes decided to do the development work for Antonelli itself, in the form of test drives. This was preferred to a move to Williams, where Antonelli could have taken over Logan Sargeant's cockpit in 2024.
Role model Lewis Hamilton: Andrea Kimi Antonelli will drive this many Formula 1 tests in 2024
TPC test drives allow an F1 team to use a two-year-old car for private testing almost without limits. In the case of the current F2 driver, this is being used extensively. So far, Antonelli has completed around ten such tests in the Mercedes W13 from the 2022 Formula 1 season, with more to follow. By the end of the year, Antonelli is expected to have completed around 15 to 20 test days in F1 cars.
In addition, there are his appearances in free practice sessions. He completed the first of these on Friday in FP1 for the Italian GP. Another appearance will follow this year, when Antonelli takes part in the test drives in Abu Dhabi at the end of the Formula 1 season. The model for this large-scale program is Lewis Hamilton's F1 entry in 2007 with McLaren. “If you look at Lewis' blueprint back then. He had a lot of tests and not only drove, but also went through a race weekend, and that's exactly what we're doing too,” explained Wolff.
At the Hungary weekend, Antonelli had expressed doubts as to whether he was ready for Formula 1 at all. These doubts have since been dispelled, as the driver, currently seventh in the F2 championship, confirmed: “I have improved a lot in the last TPCs. I think that is also because I feel much better with the car and am more familiar with the processes. That's why I think differently about it now.
Training crash forgiven: Mercedes is ready to pay the price
Antonelli's F1 debut in Monza came to a bitter early end after Antonelli went off the track on his second fast lap and had a serious accident. A mistake that the Italian admitted to, but which Wolff forgave him for immediately after the training session. “He may have to learn that FP1 is not a qualifying session,” Wolff said to Antonelli on Saturday with a wink.
Unsurprisingly, Wolff also made it clear that the pairing of George Russell and Antonelli is to remain in place for the long term. Antonelli has been confirmed as a regular Mercedes driver in Formula 1, but so far only for 2025. “We have always had contracts with our drivers that were short-term. That is the art of how the team works. But it is much more important how.” “George and Kimi fit together in the team,” explained Wolff. According to him, the 18-year-old has long been tied to the Silver Arrows, but “with complicated clauses,” said Wolff.
In plain language, one can also assume that Mercedes still has plenty of back doors open to replace Antonelli if performances are poor. Given their rapid rise, however, the team from Brackley is prepared to factor in a certain margin of error from the start.
“[Russell] He made some mistakes at Williams that weren't that noticeable. Now we've accelerated Kimi's rise. His mistakes will be more visible now that he's in a Mercedes. “But we're absolutely ready for this investment,” said Toto Wolff confidently. The 2025 Formula 1 season will show whether the risky decision for Antonelli pays off.
