Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s F1 debut is one of the most highly anticipated storylines of the 2025 season. The 18-year-old Italian made a name for himself in junior championships before being directly promoted to F2 from FRECA by Mercedes. Even though his F2 campaign in 2024 wasn’t as impressive, the Brackley team promoted him to F1.
Lewis Hamilton’s departure for Ferrari at the end of 2024 meant that team principal, Toto Wolff decided to give Antonelli a shot as George Russell’s teammate this season. Around all the hype surrounding Antonelli, the word ‘prodigy’ has been thrown around a lot. But Wolff is of the opinion that the 18-year-old must earn that tag.
When asked if Antonelli was really deserving of being called a prodigy, the Austrian told Auto Motor und Sport, “He will only be a prodigy when he truly delivers in Formula 1. We hope it happens sooner rather than later, but certainly not right at the beginning.”
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff is expecting a year of ups and downs for Kimi Antonelli in 2025
What do you think Kimi’s best result will be this year? pic.twitter.com/ztpGmMbuuD
— Crash.net – Formula 1 (@CRASH_NET_F1) January 10, 2025
Wolff went on to explain that the Silver Arrows are well aware that Antonelli will require some time to get used to being an F1 driver. This entails mistakes on the Italian’s part that the team are ready to bear. Wolff termed 2025 as a transitionary year for the 18-year-old and stated that Mercedes have adjusted their expectations accordingly.
That said, the Brackley-based team are still doing everything they can to fast-track Antonelli’s assimilation within the team. One part of this plan is to provide him with enough F1 mileage in previous cars with a series of private tests being conducted in older-spec Mercedes cars.
Antonelli embarks on rigorous 2025 schedule with Jerez test
One of the first outings for Antonelli in 2025 is a two-day test scheduled by Mercedes at the Jerez circuit. Antonelli has already completed this private test as it was scheduled to be run on Wednesday and Thursday, this week.
The Jerez test is suggested to be purely from the perspective of integrating the 18-year-old into the team, as he had been strapped behind the 2020-spec W11. This was done partly because of the highly regulated testing restrictions imposed by the FIA in 2025.
As per the new sporting regulations, F1 teams are restricted to only 1,000 kilometers of TPC (testing of previous cars). As per the rules, any tests in cars from 2021, 2022, and 2023 fall under this restriction. So, Mercedes had to choose an older car for Antonelli’s private run to avoid exhausting their testing quota.
Previously, Antonelli has tested a lot of Mercedes machinery with Wolff involving him in an intensive program of driving the W12 and W13 last season. The Italian had to run this program parallel to his F2 campaign, as his promotion to Mercedes was almost a done deal.
Still, time will tell how much has the 18-year-old learned from these tests as he kickstarts his rookie F1 season in less than two months.
