Many were hooked to their screens to see Kimi Antonelli drive for Mercedes at the Italian GP FP1. However, that run came to an abrupt end when he suffered a heavy shunt into the barriers. The 18-year-old was immediately rushed to the medical center. Soon came a reassuring update that Antonelli was doing fine.
Brazilian F1 journalist Julianne Cerasoli suggests otherwise, though. Cerasoli revealed Antonelli giving the media a miss, a briefing he was scheduled to attend after FP2. However, he headed straight to his hotel room and Cerasoli believes the Italian youngster wasn’t feeling ‘100%’. The Italian did drive in the F2 qualifying after FP1, though, and secured P6.
Antonelli started his FP1 run in the W15 strongly. He did a few laps of the circuit and was setting some impressive lap times. That was when he began to develop some confidence in the car and began to push more out of it.
Just 10 minutes and five laps into the session, Antonelli lost control of his car and spun violently before crashing into the barriers. The crash at the Parabolica registered a mind-numbing 45G impact.
Antonelli não deu a entrevista prevista para depois do segundo treino livre da F1 porque foi mais cedo para o hotel, já que não estava se sentindo 100%.
A pancada foi de 45G, segundo o Toto Wolff.
Depois da batida, ele foi 6º no qualy da F2.
— Julianne Cerasoli (@jucerasoli) August 30, 2024
He immediately updated the team that he was okay, but sounded jittery. That was when Toto Wolff came on the team radio to calm Antonelli down by telling him it was fine and he did not need to worry about the damage to the car.
Later speaking with the media, the Mercedes boss said, “He’s a rookie, he’s very young. We’re investing in his future and these moments, they will happen. They will continue to happen next year, but there will also be a lot of highlights.”
“We’d rather have a problem with slowing him down than making him faster. What we saw from one and a half laps was astonishing.”, Wolff added.
Reports claimed Mercedes was ready to announce Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement for the 2025 season after the session. However, the crash may have led them to delay those plans for a couple of days.
Perhaps a strong result in F2 later this weekend could make it the right moment to go ahead with the announcement from the PR perspective. Or maybe Wolff will continue to scout for more experienced talent and not risk overwhelming the Italian prodigy.
