What level will Kimi Antonelli's Formula 1 career start at Mercedes F1 in 2025?
It is still difficult to have a clear opinion but some still doubt that the young Italian is really ready to take the plunge directly into a top team, even if Mercedes no longer really strives for victories at each Grand Prix on a regular basis.
That's the view of former Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who admits he was unimpressed by the 18-year-old's first outings on Friday at Monza and Mexico.
Antonelli actually had an accident a few minutes after hitting the track at Monza.
“There was so much hype throughout the weekend, and I guess you could say I learned a lesson the hard way with what happened in Free Practice 1,” Antonelli had justified.
Montoya has a more critical view.
“He came on track and looked like he immediately wanted to break the lap record. Then he destroyed the car.”
Antonelli makes no secret of the fact that he has taken a much more cautious approach for his second outing in Mexico.
“I had more time to prepare because it wasn't an F2 weekend. It was a much cleaner session and it was really what was needed after Monza. I didn't want to take no risk and I learned a lot.”
Montoya has a completely different view of what really happened.
“In Mexico, in my opinion, he drove too carefully not to damage anything.”
“At Monza he was criticized because he took the car off the track, in Mexico he was too slow, and of course that's not good either. You have to find the right balance, and I see this as a problem.”
“Kimi has the ability and speed to race in Formula 1, there is no doubt about that.”
“He has done many more laps than other new drivers like (Oliver) Bearman, (Jack) Doohan or (Gabriel) Bortoleto, thanks to all those tests with the old Mercedes on many different circuits. But I wonder if he is really ready for this step.”
Team boss Toto Wolff is considering bringing Valtteri Bottas back to Mercedes F1 as a reserve driver next year, a sort of disguised “plan B” in case Antonelli encounters real difficulties.
But Wolff denies having this idea in mind for Bottas.
“You have to have confidence in your drivers. You have to give your drivers as much support as possible to be successful.”
“Only if things get really bad will we consider other options. It's like flirting with another person, or thinking about it, while trying to make your relationship work. It can't work.”
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