Andrea Kimi Antonelli is about to become only the fourth driver in F1 history to make his debut at age 18 or younger when he suits up for the Australian Grand Prix next month. After a blistering junior racing record and him winning the FRECA championship in 2023, Antonelli was fast-tracked to F2, skipping F3 altogether.
And before he could even complete his rookie F2 campaign last year, the Italian was announced as a 2025 Mercedes F1 driver. Naturally, the 18-year-old racing prodigy is one of those rare cases of a naturally talented driver breaking into the pinnacle of motorsport at such a young age.
And with his toil and effort in hindsight, he had some advice to impart to the younger generation who dream of making a career in motorsport. “My advice for the junior drivers would be it’s a long journey but learn from more experienced drivers, make sure you work hard and be humble,” he said during a karting day event with the Mercedes junior academy drivers.
In fact, the #12 driver is the perfect benchmark and reference point for young drivers. Even with relatively less experience under his belt, Antonelli has proven to drivers like George Russell that he has what it takes to compete at the apex of motorsport. And Russell too seems to agree.
Introducing the two youngest members of the Mercedes junior programme…
Andrea Kimi Antonelli – 12 years old, Italy
Alex Powell – 11 years old, JamaicaThe boys are both racing in karting this year and we can’t wait to follow their progress! pic.twitter.com/QyXFV3TKpv
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 4, 2019
Speaking to the media at the 2024 Italian GP weekend, Russell was full of praise for the 18-year-old. He termed him an “exceptional driver” and revealed that testing alongside him showed him that he had real raw pace.
And just like Antonelli will hope to learn from his experienced teammate Russell at Mercedes, he is trying his best to be a role model for the younger drivers himself.
Kimi Antonelli has a field day with Mercedes’ rising talent
At the age of only 18, Antonelli has the privilege of no longer being a ‘junior’ driver. As an F1 driver, the Italian was given the chance to do some laps with the Silver Arrows’ academy drivers at a track in the UK.
Antonelli shared the track with four of the Mercedes’ junior program recruits. And whilst the other drivers took to the track almost flawlessly, Antonelli realized he had a bit of catching up to do. The video shows the 18-year-old missing his braking point at one turn and flying off into the grass.
As it turns out, this was the first time Antonelli was driving at a UK-based karting track, and to make matters worse, it was as wet as the 2024 São Paulo GP! For the unaware, ask Oliver Bearman — another driver who will enter the 2025 grid as a rookie — how treacherous the conditions were at Interlagos.
“I needed to stay on track the whole time, and unfortunately, I didn’t do that,” the 2025 Haas driver said. “I made too many mistakes. So yeah, it’s definitely tough conditions, but I still wasn’t good enough today“.
With inexperienced drivers having such a hard time last year in navigating treacherous conditions, it makes sense why Antonelli struggled.
