Mercedes already seem to have a successor in mind for Lewis Hamilton. According to gpfans.com, the team is looking to sign 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who they view as a future star. Although the Italian has links with the Silver Arrows, it is Max Verstappen who is his favorite driver.
While speaking to Roberto Chinchero, Antonelli said, “Max is a great person. I spoke to him at the FIA ceremony and I found him very nice. I was injured at the time and he asked me how I was physically. The nice thing is that he follows all the categories a lot and he asked me about the season and he knew about the results“.
Interestingly, Antonelli and Verstappen have a lot in common. Just like the Dutchman, Antonelli has also achieved a tremendous amount of success from a very young age. The Italian won the Italian F4 Championship last season and also won the Formula Regional European Championship with Prema Racing this year.
Since Antonelli has been so impressive, he will skip F3 entirely as he has already secured a race seat with Prema Racing for 2024. After the Italian team confirmed him as their first driver for 2024, the 17-year-old expressed (as quoted by fiaformula2.com) how happy he is to make the “huge jump” from Formula Regional to Formula 2.
Antonelli then added that he is aware of the challenge and looks forward to it. The Mercedes junior has been so impressive that he has also received immense praise from Toto Wolff.
Mercedes have a bright talent to replace Lewis Hamilton in the future
Since Andrea Kimi Antonelli is only 17, Toto Wolff does not want to add too much pressure on the Italian’s shoulders. Wolff believes that he is happy with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at the moment, and will keep helping Antonelli to develop with the team. After stating the same, Wolff heaped praise on Antonelli and explained how Mercedes’ future is in good hands.
“Antonelli, for example, is a very talented Italian driver in whom we have invested. He won everything in F4, is leading the Formula Regional championship, and has shown that he is really strong, fantastic to see“, explained the Austrian in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport (as quoted by gpfans.com).
Wolff then added that after the 2023 season ends, Mercedes will work with Antonelli’s family to assist the Italian before he races in F2 next year. Before the new campaign begins, the 17-year-old will get his first taste of F2 cars during the post-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit from November 29 to December 1.
