Toto Wolff has a big decision to make in 2024 – who shall replace the outgoing Lewis Hamilton for next season? However, Wolff does not wish to rush this decision and is looking from a futuristic perspective on this driver change. Amid all this deliberation, the Austrian boss wishes to give the Mercedes Academy prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli a better shot of being one of the top contenders for 2025. While Wolff and Co. were already planning to put Antonelli in previous Mercedes cars to give some running, now the Austrian is looking to put him in their 2021 car. Wolff hopes that doing so will give Antonelli some exposure in a car with which Mercedes last tasted success.
Will Buxton tweeted on X (formerly Twitter) that Wolff has confirmed that Antonelli will be testing the Mercedes W12 from 2021, as they want him “to get the feel for F1 in a good car”. It is no secret that the Silver Arrows have dropped the ball in the new ground effect regulations era since 2022.
So, despite it being legal to test the 2022 car, the team wants their Italian prodigy to test the 2021 model first. According to GP Blog, Antonelli will jump in the W12 on April 16th at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Toto Wolff, with a big smile and a sense of self deprecation, confirms Antonelli will test the 2021 Mercedes (even though it’s now legal to run a current rules spec 22 car) as Mercedes want him to get the feel for F1 in a good car.
— Will Buxton (@wbuxtonofficial) April 5, 2024
This will be the first of many tests for the 17-year-old F2 prodigy this year. Wolff is keen on getting Antonelli ready for a potential chance to step up to F1 in 2025. So, this test program is going to be a crucial one and the Mercedes boss will have a close eye on how Antonelli performs.
Wolff commented on the same, “What we have done is added more days, but what you will see in the next few months has been in place, whether or not he’s going to sit in a Formula One car next year.”
Is Toto Wolff taking a risk with Andrea Kimi Antonelli?
Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be 18 in 2025 and at that tender age, it is always a bold and risky call to hand an F1 debut to any driver. While Red Bull took such a bold risk with Max Verstappen, the Dutchman did not disappoint. He is a generational talent and there is no two ways about it.
Now, there have been similar noises around Kimi Antonelli too. The Italian sensation has turned several heads in the junior formulas and is skipping F3 altogether to race in F2 this year. Verstappen made a similar sort of move in his career when he moved from F3 to F1 in 2015 and skipped F2 altogether.
So, one would wonder if Antonelli is also an exceptional talent like Verstappen. Wolff would want to believe so. The Mercedes boss regrets to date that he did not give the opportunity to Verstappen back in the day and lost his services to Red Bull. Thus, the 52-year-old will want to avoid such a case with Antonelli.
If the Italian is as promising as everyone rates him, the Austrian boss won’t want to wait to give him his F1 debut. While people may say, it could be a risk that could backfire, Mercedes need to take such a risk to avoid losing Antonelli, as it happened with Verstappen, and regret about it later.
