In the pantheon of legendary drivers who have raced in Formula 1, Andrea Kimi Antonelli finds himself preparing to race for the first time against some of the very best the sport has ever had to offer.
Out of the 20 drivers on the grid in 2025, three are world champions and half have stood on the top step of the podium before.
Remarkably, only two teams start the 2025 campaign without a race winner in their squad – Haas and Sauber.
Mercedes have said goodbye to the most successful driver in the sport’s history, Lewis Hamilton and decided that Kimi Antonelli is the best replacement for the seven-time world champion.
Antonelli isn’t feeling the pressure of replacing Hamilton, believing that he hasn’t been brought in to directly replicate his success just yet.
However, team principal Toto Wolff has clearly seen enough in the young Italian to potentially hand him a race-winning car during his maiden F1 campaign.
Karun Chandhok has heard incredible things about Antonelli’s junior career and the 18-year-old has done extensive private testing to prepare for the 2025 campaign.
Pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz is also very excited about Antonelli’s arrival and in a TikTok for Sky Sports, believes the young Italian has one attribute that he would include in his perfect Formula 1 driver.
Ted Kravitz thinks Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s reactions are the best in Formula 1
Kravitz was joined by Sky Sports colleagues Anthony Davidson and David Croft when building their ultimate F1 driver.
Croft went through each attribute and explained: “Overtaking, I want the overtaking prowess of Daniel Ricciardo, late on the brakes when he was so good at Red Bull.
“The personality of, oh, this is so tricky, Charles Leclerc. The pace of Max Verstappen.
“Defending? Kevin Magnussen, who has bigger elbows than K-Mag!
“Reaction, Valtteri Bottas, do you remember that time he got off the line and everyone thought he jump-started, but he didn’t?
“[Mentality], Lewis Hamilton, year after year, he comes back and he performs and more often than not, he delivers.”
READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats
Kravitz then selected his drivers and said: “I like Charles Leclerc’s personality. Pure pace? Probably Ayrton Senna, overall pace, Fernando Alonso. But I’ll settle on Max Verstappen.
“Defending, Max Verstappen. [Reactions], Kimi Antonelli. [Mentality], I’m going to say [Michael] Schumacher.”
| David Croft | Anthony Davidson | Ted Kravitz | |
| Overtaking | Daniel Ricciardo | Daniel Ricciardo | Lewis Hamilton |
| Personality | Charles Leclerc | Lando Norris | Charles Leclerc |
| Pace | Max Verstappen | Max Verstappen | |
| Defending | Kevin Magnussen | Michael Schumacher | Max Verstappen |
| Reactions | Valtteri Bottas | Max Verstappen | Kimi Antonelli |
| Mentality | Lewis Hamilton | Lewis Hamilton | Michael Schumacher |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli already highly rated by new Formula 1 rivals
It’s going to be fascinating to see what Antonelli’s approach is at the beginning of his Formula 1 career.
His run during FP1 at Monza was one of the most highly anticipated on-track debuts in recent years, albeit it ended very prematurely with a crash on his second flying lap.
However, there’s a reason why Antonelli’s debut is being built up so much.
Isack Hadjar has been very impressed with Antonelli having raced against the Italian in Formula 2 last season, even comparing him to Verstappen.
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New Mercedes teammate George Russell has been impressed with Antonelli but will be well aware that he needs to establish himself as the team’s number-one driver after years of racing alongside Hamilton.
Juan Pablo Montoya has heard some worrying things about Antonelli’s testing runs although Mercedes have been overwhelmingly positive about their new driver.
Ultimately, it will all come down to how he performs once the season starts, but Kravitz has already seen something from his junior career that suggests he’s got better reactions than all of his future rivals.
