Kimi Antonelli is reportedly going to be announced by Mercedes in the coming months. Although Toto Wolff gave it all to sign Max Verstappen, the team is going to move forward with the Italian. Regardless of the talent, Antonelli is still going to be a rookie. While there might be problems with Antonelli coming to Mercedes, Karun Chandhok acknowledges the bold decision.
“You have to applaud Mercedes. We constantly say that teams are doing the morning things and making boring decisions. But here you’ve got Toto Wolff and a top team rolling the dice and taking a risk on a young star. You know what? I kind of respect that as well”, said Chandhok on the Fast and the Curious podcast.
However, Chandhok was clear in pointing out the problems with an inexperienced driver. With the 2026 regulations coming thick and fast, a young driver won’t be able to give feedback like an experienced one. This makes a huge difference to the development of a car, especially with the new regulations.
That is why, Chandhok had second thoughts about this decision. Regardless, Antonelli’s recent performances in the F2 championship along with his points tally compared to teammate Oliver Bearman are all positives. On top of that, Antonelli reportedly did well in the F1 tests conducted by Mercedes.
Since Antonelli made the move from F4 to F2 and will only have a year’s experience in the junior formulas, he might succumb to the pressure in F1, given he’s signing with a top team. Hence, Chandhok suggested Mercedes could have gone for the Sainz-Russell pairing for the next couple of years and then get Antonelli in the seat.
Andrew Shovlin on “naturally gifted” Antonelli’s raw speed
Antonelli struggled with Prema Racing in the F2 championship during the first quarter of the season. Some of it was down to Prema’s inability to set up the car with Bearman also struggling alongside the Italian.
However, in the recent races, Prema seems to have resolved the issue with the Mercedes prodigy getting up to speed. Antonelli won the British GP F2 Sprint and the feature race at the Hungarian GP — which has shown a glimpse of why he has been highly rated so much by Mercedes.
According to Formula1.com, Shovlin said, “His speed is the main thing. He’s gone through the series very, very quickly. It wasn’t long ago that he was driving go-karts, he’s now in F2, and he’s testing an F1 car with us.” He added, “Antonelli looks like one of those naturally gifted talents that everyone’s trying to find.”
Many claim that Antonelli is the next Max Verstappen. Given the Italian’s recent performances and Shovlin’s comments, it does look like Mercedes have struck the right chord.
