The Italian Grand Prix weekend saw Kimi Antonelli get confirmed as the teammate for George Russell at Mercedes in 2025, something that had been anticipated for a long time now. The 18-year-old has recently opened up about how Russell has already been hugely supportive of him as he praised the Briton.
As per a report from ACI Sport, the Italian karting school represented by Antonelli, he highlighted the similarities in the career path both Russell and himself have taken to F1 as a Mercedes junior driver.
Antonelli noted that he has a lot of respect for Russell and that he has already helped him a great deal in adapting to the old Mercedes F1 car during the preparations for his promotion to F1.
“I’m also very excited to become a teammate to George,” the Italian remarked. “He’s been through the team’s junior program just like me and is someone I have huge respect for. He’s super fast, a multiple Grand Prix winner, and has already helped me improve as a driver.”, he added.
“I’m looking forward to learning from him and working together to get results on track.”
Our 2025 F1 driver line-up confirmed ✅
Kimi Antonelli will race alongside George Russell next season
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) August 31, 2024
ACI Sport also took the opportunity to congratulate Antonelli on the start of his F1 career with Mercedes as they highlighted how the 18-year-old has always shared a strong bond with the Italian Federation and the ACI Sport “Michele Alboreto” Federal School since his karting days.
Antonelli will have more pressure than any other rookie in 2025
F1 will finally have several full-time rookies on the grid after two whole seasons with Oliver Bearman joining Haas, Jack Doohan joining Alpine, and Antonelli joining Mercedes.
However, Antonelli will have the biggest spotlight on him as he will be replacing Lewis Hamilton in a top team that could fight for multiple wins in 2025. Thus, it can pile a lot of pressure on the young Italian. But he remains unfazed by the challenge in front of him.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli sobre ocupar a vaga deixada por Lewis Hamilton:
“Eu não tenho medo de ser julgado” pic.twitter.com/9a9XetMwdp
— Mercedes-AMG F1 Brasil (@MercedesAMGF1BR) August 9, 2024
Even Hamilton praised Antonelli at Monza after a dismal qualifying session saying that the team will have a much better driver in him in 2025. This level of praise from a seven-time world champion is bound to add even more pressure on Antonelli.
Such pressure is never a good thing for such a young and inexperienced driver and it resulted in what was an unusual crash during his very first outing with the team in FP1 in Monza. Antonelli crashed out at the last corner on just his second lap in the W15 of Russell. Time will tell whether the 18-year-old can tackle this pressure at every race weekend next season.
