Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes debut is one of the most hotly-anticipated rookie appearances for the 2025 season. The 18-year-old has enjoyed a vastly successful junior career, prompting the Silver Arrows to fast-track him to F2, last year, and into an F1 seat only halfway through his rookie F2 campaign.
Yet, the Italian racing prodigy will be racing against far more experienced drivers at the pinnacle of motorsport, making his debut a challenging affair. In fact, his boss, Toto Wolff doesn’t expect him to set the grid ablaze anytime soon.
“Kimi won’t be on pole and winning in Melbourne straight away,” Wolff had commented previously in an interview with AMuS.
But Antonelli has a different game plan than what might be expected from him.
Sky Sports Italy quoted Antonelli as saying, “I will go to the track with the mentality of those who want to win, on the other hand I am also a realist, there are very strong opponents. But I will always attack and I won’t back down,” at the F1 75 launch event.
Antonelli is aware of the weight of expectations on his shoulders. However, he is keen to carve his own legacy in the sport. So much so, that the 18-year-old has deflected any implications that he comes to the team as a replacement for the seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton.
Antonelli doesn’t identify himself as Hamilton’s successor
Hamilton spent 12 glorious years with Mercedes — winning six driver’s titles and helping the team win eight consecutive Constructors’ titles — before embarking on a new chapter with Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season.
And while Antonelli was named as the driver taking his seat alongside George Russell for 2025, the Italian prodigy isn’t keen on being compared to Hamilton.
“I don’t find it right to say that I’m his [Hamilton’s] replacement. He has done so much in the sport,” he explained while commending the Briton’s career with the Silver Arrows at the F1 75 launch event at the O2 Arena.
“I just feel I am the next Mercedes driver and I really want to make my own story,” he added.
️ Antonelli: “I don’t find it right to say that I’m his [Hamilton’s] replacement. He has done so much in the sport and I just feel [like] the next Mercedes driver and I really want to make my own story.” pic.twitter.com/9GuPXoewrA
— The Race (@wearetherace) February 18, 2025
Antonelli’s official announcement last year coincided with the #44 driver’s final days with the Brackley-based team. Naturally, the 18-year-old might have gotten a few words of wisdom imparted to him by the 40-year-old. Antonelli also revealed that Hamilton had left him a note in the driver room.
In any case, Mercedes have also left no stone unturned to ensure that Antonelli is ready for the task up ahead. This has included media training, and enough track time in older-spec F1 machinery that would make Antonelli the ‘most experienced’ rookie in the history of Formula 1.
