After weeks of rumors, confirmation comes from Mercedes: The young Antonelli will race for the German manufacturer from 2025.
After weeks of rumors, confirmation has arrived: Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be the new driver of Mercedes from 2025. The young driver from Bologna (he turned 18 on August 25) will replace Lewis Hamiltonwhich will instead move to Ferrari.
His debut in Formula 1 and the confidence of Toto Wolff
His debut in Formula 1, on August 30, could have been better. On the fifth lap of the Monza track during free practice, the pilot hit the barriers of the parabolic curve with the right side of his car.
“I pushed a little too hard,” Antonelli commented in a short video. “I apologize to George and the team.” The boss of the Mercedes team, Austrian billionaire Toto Wolff, assured that The accident does not question the Bolognese driver’s potential in Formula 1 at all.
It seems that Wolff never had any doubts about him. ‘I decided five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me that he was going to Ferrari,’ the magnate told reporters. present at Monza.
The Antonelli-Russell couple
Antonelli will go alongside 26-year-old driver George Russell, whom he said he had in mind. great esteem. “I’m also very excited to be George’s teammate. He has been through the team’s junior program like me and is someone for whom I have enormous respect. He is super fast, he has won several races and he has already helped me improve as a driver,” commented the driver from Bologna.
The team veteran was also full of praise for his new teammate, stating that he is “really excited to be working with Kimi for 2025.”“His career in Formula Junior has been formidable and his promotion is truly deserved,” he added. Antonelli will be the first Italian to compete in F1 since Giovinazzi in Abu Dhabi with Alfa Sauber in 2021, while the last Italian to win a Grand Prix was Fischella in Malaysia in 2006.
