Kimi Antonelli admits key area the Mercedes rookie ‘especially’ still needs to understand after F1 testing

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has given his debut F1 testing a score of ‘7.5’ out of 10 as the Mercedes rookie admits he has a key area to improve for the Australian Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old will become the third-youngest driver ever to start a Formula 1 race behind Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll when Antonelli takes the start in Melbourne on March 16. Mercedes have backed their academy product after Lewis Hamilton quit to sign with Ferrari.

Bosses in Brackley have believed in Antonelli since signing him for their driver academy back in 2019 while dominating in go-karts. The Bologna boy lifted yet more titles in single-seaters, too, sealing an ADAC and Italian F4 plus a Formula Regional Europe and Middle East double.

Now, Antonelli shoots straight into a front-running F1 car for his debut after just one year in Formula 2, which also yielded wins in the Silverstone Sprint and Hungary Feature Race. The Italian accepts he is not the finished article just yet, too, after finishing F1 testing in Bahrain.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli admits the Mercedes rookie ‘still’ needs to understand the Pirelli tyres in qualifying

Antonelli concerned Jolyon Palmer by struggling on the brakes during F1 testing as he often carried too much speed into the bends and locked-up. The teenager fully utilised his chance to push the limits ahead of making his F1 debut with Mercedes in the Australian Grand Prix.

He also admits that there are areas that the Silver Arrows product must polish and Antonelli accepts George Russell showed him where to improve after studying his teammates’ data in Bahrain. A skill Antonelli knows he has to improve is optimising the Pirelli tyres in qualifying.

READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats

“I’ll give it a 7.5,” Antonelli has told Sky Sports Italia. “I still have to understand the tyre well, especially when it comes to the qualifying lap because the window in which the tyre works is very narrow. I’ll have to know how to make it work for the whole lap, not just at the start.

“There’s also room for improvement on the long run, which was quite positive, though. Melbourne? I like the track. The mentality is to start to win but realistically it would be positive to finish in the top six.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli is already confident in Mercedes’ 2025 F1 car

Antonelli is already confident in Mercedes’ F1 car, which emerged as potentially the second-best machine on the 2025 grid during testing in Bahrain. F1 testing indicated McLaren have the best car, with Ferrari and in particular Red Bull playing catch up among the title fighters.

The cooler conditions which met Formula 1 in Sakhir helped Mercedes to shine, potentially more so than the Silver Arrows predicted. It remains to be seen if the W16 continues to be the second-best car on the grid in the forecasted warmer weather due at the Australian GP.

If Mercedes do continue their strong testing times in Melbourne, F1 fans will get a chance to see how Antonelli copes with real pressure in qualifying. It will be the first time that he faces actual pressure in F1, so will not want a lack of understanding of Pirelli’s tyres to be an issue.