Mercedes may have said goodbye to the most successful driver in the history of Formula 1, but there aren’t many glum faces in the Silver Arrows’ garage heading into the 2025 season.
Although Mercedes would have loved to still have Lewis Hamilton racing for them this season, there is plenty of excitement surrounding his replacement.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be the youngest driver on the grid in 2025 after his rapid ascent through the junior categories.
Although Antonelli didn’t add to his impressive list of titles in Formula 2 last year, he produced some incredible moments.
Antonelli stunned Williams boss James Vowles at Spa with one particular overtake while he dominated a race in the wet at Silverstone.
The 18-year-old made his public debut in a Mercedes F1 car at Monza last year and on the verge of signing his contract for 2025, he put his car into the wall on his second flying lap.
Juan Pablo Montoya believes Antonelli has crashed a lot during his private testing ahead of his Mercedes debut.
However, even Hamilton proved during a Ferrari test in Barcelona earlier this year that the greatest drivers find themselves heading into the gravel on occasion.
Journalist Laura Winter was in attendance at F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain and told the F1 Nation podcast what everyone was saying in the paddock after watching Antonelli in action.
What ‘everyone’ behind the scenes in F1 is now saying about Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Winter was asked who she thinks will be the most exciting rookie on the grid this season and answered: “For me, it’s Kimi Antonelli because there has been so much talk for so many years of this young man’s career and he’s only 18 and people have been talking about him in Formula 1 since 11, 12, 13.
“I think with all that hype, certainly in F2 with Prema not firing on all cylinders through last season, we perhaps didn’t see the very best of Kimi Antonelli with the likes of a really dominant F2 win that Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Charles Leclerc has done before, Gabriel Bortoleto has done before.
READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats
“So there was a lot, I think, unknown publicly about Kimi Antonelli’s pace form, [and] how well he’ll perform in Formula 1 because people may not necessarily have seen it.
“But from everybody you see speaking about Kimi Antonelli behind the scenes and what they see, he is the next big thing.
“He is a generational talent, Mercedes could not miss out on him. There is so much hype around this kid.”
Kimi Antonelli already aware of ‘ruthless’ Max Verstappen ahead of Formula 1 debut
Pre-season testing gave us an indication that Antonelli’s race pace could match Charles Leclerc’s in the Ferrari which highlights how fast the teenager can be.
Although testing isn’t the perfect indicator of the pecking order in Formula 1, Antonelli is likely to be fighting with some incredible drivers this season.
McLaren appear to have the fastest car but there’s not much to choose between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
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It means Antonelli could be going wheel-to-wheel against the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Antonelli explained he already knows how ruthless Verstappen is just from his behaviour in Bahrain.
The 18-year-old will need to get his elbows out if he’s going to get the better of the four-time world champion this season.
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