Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who joined Mercedes’ junior program in 2019, is only 17 years old, but he has long been seen as the company’s future.
With the Italian rising through the junior ranks and winning the Formula Regional European Championship to go directly into Formula 2, where he will race for Prema, the decision was taken this year for him to forego Formula 3.
Alex Jacques is excluded. Putting Andrea Kimi Antonelli at “Risk” by Toto Wolff
Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes race seat may be his next move, according to suggestions made as early as the upcoming season in Formula 1.
Wolff is looking for a new Formula 1 driver, and Hamilton confirmed earlier this month that he will be switching from Mercedes to Ferrari at the end of this year.
It has been suggested by several pundits that the team manager should take a chance on Antonelli, but Formula 2 commentator Jacques thinks Wolff will consider it as too great a risk.
“For Antonelli to have a shot at starting in that Mercedes team for the 2025 season, he would have to completely dominate the championship,” Jacques stated on the Feeder Series Podcast.
“Regardless of how excellent someone is, I just don’t see Wolff placing them in that circumstance.
“I don’t think [Wolff] is a team principal who would take that kind of risk, and it’s easier to do a [Charles] Leclerc in a Sauber, a Russell in a Williams, regardless of a driver’s talent level.”
He thinks Wolff should instead sign the best driver available to “replace the presence” of Lewis Hamilton.
“Whether it be a World Champion, a winner of a race, or a hotshot talent,” he went on. Something is needed to motivate their team.
“That will need to be a very well-known player of extraordinary ability or a truly remarkable talent, but I still don’t see Antonelli starting [the season with Mercedes.”
But, it might not be so simple to get him into a Williams racing seat, as Wolff did with Russell in the past, given that Williams has young drivers in Formula 2 in Zak O’Sullivan and Franco Colapinto.
Jacques continued, “I think Williams is going to respect their juniors.”
Following the Hamilton news, Wolff was questioned about Antonelli. The Austrian made it plain that he wasn’t leaning either way because he didn’t want to start any rumors.
“Kimi joined Mercedes when he was eleven years old,” he informed reporters, including PlanetF1.com. “He participated in the junior program, and he had great success throughout his junior career.
“I believe that focusing on F2 at this point is the most crucial thing.
“It won’t help his F2 campaign if we start to mislead him or spread rumors about him in the public.
“He’s not even eighteen years old, and he just stopped driving karts a few years ago.” Therefore, at this point, I would prefer to avoid launching any rumors regarding Kimi entering Formula 1.