Andrea Kimi Antonelli has enjoyed a record-breaking start to his Formula 1 career at Mercedes and now heads to Italy to start the European leg of the year on home soil.
Imola is preparing to hold what could be the final running of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix this weekend. The circuit officially named after Dino Ferrari does not have a contract to stay on the F1 calendar next year, but Imola is engaged in active talks to remain on the schedule.
Antonelli will also hope his first home Grand Prix gets off to a better start than the last time Formula 1 visited Italy. Mercedes handed the Bologna boy his race weekend debut in FP1 at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix, but saw Antonelli have a 52G crash through Monza’s Parabolica.
His immediate willingness to push in an F1 car has led to a raft of impressive rookie races, as well. Antonelli became F1’s youngest-ever polesitter in the Miami Sprint, to take yet another record as the youngest-ever Grand Prix leader and the youngest driver to set the fastest lap.
Mercedes expect ‘so much more’ from Andrea Kimi Antonelli after his impressive feedback
Antonelli is even blowing Mercedes away behind the scenes at their factory in Brackley. That is according to Auto Action, which reports that ‘all’ of the staff ‘inside’ the Silver Arrows now say there is still ‘so much more’ to come from the 18-year-old after listening to his feedback.
READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats
The Italian is ‘very analytical’ when speaking to their engineers and Antonelli’s ‘very precise’ feedback has also helped Mercedes improve the balance of the W16. His limited experience since replacing Lewis Hamilton this season has not prevented him from making a difference.
So, Mercedes think more is possible for Antonelli, whom they have ‘tremendous’ admiration for. Even if his race pace has so far stopped the teenager from converting his raw speed into points, with Antonelli urging Mercedes to study his lack of speed in Miami on the hard tyres.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli must now use his ‘analytical’ mind to unlock stronger race pace
Antonelli proved Mercedes have one of the fastest cars on the 2025 F1 grid in Miami, as the Italian secured pole position for the F1 Sprint and third on the grid for the Miami Grand Prix. He was even just 0.067 seconds away from denying Max Verstappen pole for the Grand Prix.
Yet McLaren’s F1 drivers’ championship leader Oscar Piastri claimed the lead of the Sprint at Turn 1 as his aggressive line on the first lap took Antonelli wide. Verstappen hitting Antonelli in the pit lane after an unsafe release by Red Bull even saw him finish the Sprint down in P7.
His plight on the hard Pirelli tyres in the Miami GP also saw Antonelli finish the race 55.502s behind race-winner Piastri. He was also 17.858s behind teammate George Russell, who gave Mercedes a podium finish in Florida by undercutting Verstappen for P3 from P5 on the grid.
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