Despite Valentino Rossi’s Early Influence, Kimi Antonelli Chose Race Cars for His Parents’ Sake

Andrea Kimi Antonelli is one of the most promising young talents in Formula 1. Due to the massive influence MotoGP star Valentino Rossi had on his career, Antonelli was keen to follow his hero and take up motorcycle racing. However, due to his parents’ sake, he eventually chose car racing.

Rossi was one of the mentors for the young Italian driver as he was climbing up through the ranks of motor racing. Despite being surrounded by world-class riders, including modern-day MotoGP stars like Pecco Bagnaia and Marco Bezzecchi, Antonelli remained committed to cars instead of motorcycles.

And he now believes that he can’t make a switch to motorcycles even if he wants to. Antonelli said in a recent exclusive with gazzetta.it,

“It’s better to avoid it. My parents have always preferred me to race by car, and at the moment, trying isn’t even the ideal choice“.

Kimi Antonelli’s first interaction with Rossi happened through a simulator group, which included young talents from the Moto GP star’s VR46 Riders Academy. While Rossi himself had never taken part in four-wheeled racing at that point, he quickly recognized Antonelli’s talent and invited him to Misano during the early days of his transition from MotoGP to car racing.

Valentino Rossi: “Antonelli can be the future Italian hope in F1”

“I’m very happy to know Kimi because on the paper he can be the future Italian hope in F1. So we stay a bit together sometimes, and he is a great guy I like a lot, we enjoy,” he said. pic.twitter.com/8A3gIW5Zq9

— Kimi Antonelli Updates (@AndreaKimiNews) November 17, 2023

As they got to know each other better, Rossi began offering guidance to Antonelli, not just on racing lines but also on the mindset needed to become a top competitor. He even invited the young Italian to his famous ranch, where he used to train young MotoGP talents and that is where Antonelli started building friendships with the likes of Bagnaia and Bezzecchi.

However, Antonelli’s decision to pick car racing over motorcycles has paid off as he has now received an F1 seat with Mercedes, which is arguably one of the top teams in the sport. The Silver Arrows recognized Antonelli’s talent very early on.

By the time Mercedes officially hired him as their junior driver in 2019, the young Italian had already won nine karting championships, with one runner-up result and three third-place finishes.