Italian prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has just celebrated his 18th birthday, will replace Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes Formula 1 team for the 2025 season, the German team announced on Saturday on the sidelines of the Italian GP.
The Transalpine, considered the best driver of his generation, will therefore team up with the Briton George Russell while the seven-time world champion will join Ferrari.
“Our 2025 driver line-up will combine experience, talent, youth and speed. We look forward to seeing what George and Kimi can bring to the team individually and collectively. This is the perfect pairing to open a new chapter in the history of the Mercedes team,” said iconic team boss Toto Wolff in the statement.
Antonelli had been irresistible in previous seasons in the youth competitions. In 2022, he won the Italian and German Formula 4 championships, then in 2023 he took the Middle East and European Formula Regional championships.
In 2024, he skipped Formula 3 to join the Formula 2 championship directly, a very rare thing.
After a difficult start to the year, the Italian took his first sprint race victory at Silverstone in early July, before winning the main race in Budapest two weeks later. The Bologna native currently sits seventh in the championship with four rounds remaining.
“It’s an incredible feeling to be announced as a Mercedes driver for 2025. Reaching F1 has been a dream of mine since I was a little boy. I still have a lot to learn, but I feel ready to seize this opportunity,” said Antonelli, who joined Mercedes’ young driver programme in 2019, aged just 12.
The Italian had been knighted by Lewis Hamilton, who had announced his departure for Ferrari to everyone’s surprise in February, even before the start of the season.
“I said a long time ago that I thought he was the one the team should choose to move forward. I think he has a bright future ahead of him. I’m looking forward to seeing and observing his progress (…) Rather than recruiting a driver with many, many years of experience, you have to give a young guy a chance… That’s what McLaren did for me and it worked well,” said the Briton in a press conference at Monza.
The announcement comes a day after Antonelli’s failed F1 debut. On Friday, the Italian driver was the victim of a major accident during the first free practice session of the Italian Grand Prix: after barely ten minutes of driving, he lost control of George Russell’s single-seater at high speed and crashed into a wall of tires. However, he was not injured and was able to get out of the car on his own.
nb/smr
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