Mercedes’ struggles in the ground-effect era might have dampened the Silver Arrows’ legacy in the sport but one does not have to go too far back to witness one of the greatest F1 cars ever built by the Brackley-based squad — the W11. Now, their latest recruit, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will get the privilege of driving it at Jerez this week.
The W11 is considered by many as the single greatest piece of F1 engineering. It won the 2020 Constructors’ championship by a whopping 254 points and helped Lewis Hamilton secure his seventh world title. Antonelli, who comes in to replace the Briton at Mercedes, will now test this car to sharpen his skills before the season begins.
Mercedes have been forced to go all the way back to a 2020-spec car for Antonelli because of the stricter testing regulations imposed in 2025. Any car run between 2021 and 2023 falls under the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) regulations (Article 10.2 of the Sporting Regulations) which have now been limited to just 1000 km in a calendar year.
Mercedes will hold private tests in Jerez on Wednesday and Thursday.
Kimi Antonelli will be driving the 2020 W11.
The decision to go all the way back to 2020 is deliberate and is a consequence of fresh restrictions that have been imposed this year on the running of old F1… pic.twitter.com/qSxKsxHgUV
— Mercedes Hub (@MercedesF1_Hub) January 13, 2025
So, the team have decided to give Antonelli some track time in an older-spec car that falls out of this restriction. While this test — happening on Wednesday and Thursday — will not give the 18-year-old much wheel knowledge of the current generation of cars, it will help him familiarize himself with how the team operates.
Last year, though, Antonelli tested the 2022 Mercedes car apart from their W12 from 2021 in an extensive testing program he underwent with the team. So, the Italian has got a fair bit of understanding of the ground-effect cars. Nevertheless, the 2025 season will be a massive learning curve for the Italian prodigy.
Antonelli and Hamilton will delight Italian F1 fans in January
For Italian F1 fans, 2025 is a year to look forward to. Not only will Antonelli’s debut garner a lot of expectations and excitement, but Hamilton’s Ferrari debut is also sure to rack up some great spectatorship.
Antonelli and Hamilton’s respective debuts for their teams are somewhat running in parallel. The #44 driver is also expected to make his official Ferrari debut later this month, in a private test scheduled at the Scuderia’s test track in Fiorano.
With all the arrangements already underway for Hamilton’s welcome, the law enforcement in Maranello will have to stay on their toes this month. Whilst the test is not open to fans to attend, the spectacle is reportedly going to be live broadcast by Ferrari. And considering the passion of the Tifosi, people will try to sneak a live peek at Hamilton’s first drive in a Ferrari car.
