Significant pressure and expectations were put upon Kimi Antonelli as he went into his debut F1 season with Mercedes. So far in 2025, he has been a standout performer.
The Italian was called upon by Toto Wolff to replace Lewis Hamilton at the Silver Arrows. Coming in for a seven-time world champion as a rookie is a daunting prospect, but Mercedes have clear faith in Antonelli.
The team prepared the 18-year-old extensively during 2024 and the winter period with numerous tests. Antonelli looked ‘calm’ during pre-season testing in Bahrain – a sign that he could come into F1 and excite fans from the off.
He has done exactly that in his first two races. Antonelli finished an impressive P4 at the Australian Grand Prix, climbing up from 16th on the grid in the tricky conditions and scored points again in China with seventh in the Sprint and eighth in the main race.
| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Lando Norris |
44 |
| 2 |
Max Verstappen |
36 |
| 3 |
George Russell |
35 |
| 4 |
Oscar Piastri |
34 |
| 5 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
22 |
| 6 |
Alexander Albon |
16 |
| 7 |
Esteban Ocon |
10 |
| 8 |
Lance Stroll |
10 |
| 9 |
Lewis Hamilton |
9 |
| 10 |
Charles Leclerc |
8 |
The Italian has already built a reputation of being an aggressive driver as he sustained floor damage in Melbourne and Shanghai, hampering his performance. Antonelli must avoid this ‘weird’ issue in future races, but it is clear the teenager is a talent for the future.
F1 fans likened Antonelli to Kimi Raikkonen after his F1 debut. Gaining 12 positions in the unpredictable weather was an incredible feat – the teenager has already delighted his team.
‘Everyone’ at Mercedes is ‘excited’ to be working with Kimi Antonelli after his first F1 races
Mercedes view Antonelli as a real prospect for the future. The 18-year-old has a great support network around him with George Russell as his teammate and Valtteri Bottas as reserve driver.
Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington has taken Antonelli under his wing and is giving him the proper guidance he needs, as Andrew Shovlin noted. Speaking on Mercedes’ YouTube channel, the team’s trackside engineering director says the team is ‘excited’ to work with Antonelli.
“He’s a brilliant fit in the team. And it’s difficult to come in after a driver who’s been as successful as Lewis has,” said Shovlin.
“And for Kimi it’s still really early days in his F1 career. Now happily, he’s got an extremely experienced race engineer with Bono who’s helping him work out how to approach the weekends and how you build your speed and how you work on the car setup.
“Everyone in the team’s quite excited to be working with him and he’s just enjoying it. I think in Melbourne, he couldn’t quite believe he was actually starting an F1 race.
“Having your first race being a wet one, well, that’s particularly tricky. But he’s settling into it and I think there’s a lot more to come from Kimi.”
READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats
Kimi Antonelli is changing people’s minds about him already after two races
Despite losing Hamilton to Ferrari, Mercedes went into 2025 with optimism after a solid outing in pre-season. However, there were some doubts about whether the team could compete for the title with Antonelli on board.
Martin Brundle feared Mercedes were a ‘one-horse team’ with Russell leading the Silver Arrows. Antonelli said ‘nobody expects’ him to win in 2025 – but he has shown great potential.
Brundle has changed his mind about Antonelli after his first two races. He has been much closer to the frontrunners as many may have expected and a podium may soon be on the cards.
Mercedes will continue to support and push the Italian throughout 2025. Early signs have been encouraging and he will be a driver to look out for over the rest of the year.
Leave feedback about this