Andrea Kimi Antonelli was extra nervous than he had been for a while. A racing driver’s profession can usually hinge on sliding doorways moments similar to these.
The 18-year-old wasn’t attempting to safe a Formulation One drive. He accomplished that mission months in the past when he signed with Mercedes to exchange Lewis Hamilton.
He was about to sit down his driving check.
Thirty minutes later, the Italian teenager beamed beneath his mop of curly hair and raised a thumb to the digital camera. He’d handed — first time, after all. There can be no have to squeeze in one other check between the hectic journey calls for of the F1 calendar. And the ‘honor’ of being an lively F1 driver with out a street license — as soon as true of Max Verstappen, who debuted at age 17 — is not going to apply to Antonelli.
It was an early dose of strain dealt with nicely by the driving force who will debut for Mercedes on the Australian Grand Prix on March 16, getting into the cockpit vacated by Hamilton, a seven-time world champion 21 years Antonelli’s senior.
Antonelli is aware of he can’t count on to emulate Hamilton’s 12-year run at Mercedes, which yielded six world championships and 84 race wins to turn into probably the most profitable driver-team partnership in F1 historical past. However he takes in all of the assist he can forward of his debut season.
“I’m the following Mercedes driver and I’m taking the seat of somebody who made historical past within the sport, so it’s an enormous privilege,” Antonelli advised The Athletic in an interview. “It’s an enormous accountability, however I’ve received the best individuals round me.”
Automobiles have at all times been a central a part of Antonelli’s life.
His father, Marco, watched how younger Kimi performed with toy vehicles and determined to take him go-karting at 5.
Kimi immediately fell in love with the feeling of velocity. (Antonelli goes by his center identify, which has no connection to the 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen.) But Marco, who nonetheless races in sportscars together with his personal GT workforce, Antonelli Motorsport, which competes throughout Europe, was initially cautious of pursuing it too severely. He didn’t need Kimi to get harm in what generally is a ruthless world.
“Generally motorsport could be merciless,” Antonelli stated. “He was afraid that I might have been too harm from disappointment, so he needed to keep away from that. However seeing that I actually cherished driving and actually cherished the game, he determined to provide it a go. He may see, with out me actually telling him, that I had the eagerness for motorsport.”
That love was furthered by father-and-son Sundays spent watching F1 races collectively. Whereas Antonelli would have grown up watching Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, his racing heroes are from a lot additional again. His dad confirmed him the well-known race between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux at Dijon in 1979, regarded by many as the best on-track battle of all time, which gave him an appreciation of the game’s historical past from a younger age.
“It was simply superb,” Antonelli stated. “You see how completely different it was, in comparison with now, the security, the vehicles. You additionally admire the best way the drivers have been nonetheless battling on monitor regardless of realizing that the vehicles weren’t as secure as at the moment. They have been nonetheless going for it and you actually admire seeing these battles.”
Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna emerged as Antonelli’s favourite drivers, partly because of their tenacious model on the monitor. “Ayrton is my hero, however Villeneuve, now I perceive why my dad was such an enormous fan of him,” Antonelli stated. “He was a lion on the monitor.”
After first utilizing 12 as his racing quantity in Formulation 4, Antonelli selected it for his F1 debut season as a nod to Senna, who raced with 12 by means of the primary 4 years of his profession, together with his first championship season in 1988. By coincidence, Villeneuve additionally raced with 12 in 1978 and 1979.
Whereas the historical past classes Antonelli obtained as a baby furthered his ardour off the monitor, on the monitor, he rapidly excelled, rising up the go-karting ladder. His progress put him on the radar of high expertise scouts, amongst whom was Gwen Lagrue, Mercedes’ junior guru. This led to Antonelli assembly Mercedes workforce principal Toto Wolff at age 11 earlier than signing to its younger driver program at 13.
It was Antonelli’s character in addition to his potential that impressed Wolff. By the point he stepped as much as single-seaters and continued profitable every thing he laid his arms upon, together with each the Italian and German F4 titles in his first 12 months earlier than the Formulation Regional title in 2023, it was clear {the teenager} had the makings of one thing particular. In the long run, a spot sooner or later Mercedes F1 lineup alongside George Russell has at all times been within the thoughts of the workforce’s administration. It was only a matter of timing.
When Hamilton, who many anticipated would finish his profession at Mercedes, revealed final January that he can be leaving for Ferrari in 2025, it took Wolff 5 minutes to determine Antonelli, then simply 17, can be the person to exchange him.
“We now have a fantastic relationship, not solely professionally, but additionally outdoors of the monitor,” Antonelli stated of Wolff. “He’s a fantastic man, actually supportive throughout nice moments but additionally throughout troublesome moments. I’m tremendous pleased to be with him. He’s been giving me a whole lot of assist.”
Wolff has even entrusted Antonelli with instructing his six-year-old son, Jack, find out how to go-kart. “He’s not unhealthy, he’s been enhancing quite a bit,” Antonelli stated. “Each check, he was getting higher and higher. It was good to see.”
Antonelli leaves his automobile after crashing throughout his first observe session, forward of the Italian Grand Prix in 2024 (Gabriel Bouys / AFP through Getty Pictures)
The one factor each Wolff and Mercedes have been desperate to keep away from is placing an excessive amount of strain or expectation on Antonelli. A crash simply minutes into his first F1 observe outing at Monza, in the future earlier than he was introduced within the 2025 seat, was dismissed as a part of the training curve. Mercedes doesn’t count on an 18-year-old to copy what Hamilton achieved.
Debuting for such a high-profile workforce at such a younger age is uncommon in F1. Usually, younger drivers will get their first alternative additional down the grid to study the ropes and make a reputation for themselves earlier than proving they’re prepared for a high seat. Russell spent three years at Williams earlier than getting the Mercedes drive. Purple Bull initially positioned Verstappen at its sister workforce, Toro Rosso, earlier than selling him throughout his second season.
The one nice, profitable exception to the rule in latest F1 historical past is the person Antonelli will exchange: Hamilton. He was given a McLaren seat for his debut season in 2007 and got here inside one level of profitable the championship as a rookie. It’s an impossibly excessive bar, one there is no such thing as a expectation for Antonelli to fulfill.
Antonelli’s youth meant his step as much as F1 required an additional diploma of preparation. Alongside his Formulation Two racing commitments final 12 months, he performed an in depth quantity (slightly below 20 days) of personal testing in outdated vehicles, together with his tempo impressing the engineering workforce. Antonelli was additionally capable of embed himself with the Mercedes engineering crew at races by means of the second half of the season, attending to know the voices and faces he’ll lean upon by means of 2025.
Antonelli feels a accountability not solely towards Mercedes but additionally towards his native Italy. Whereas the nation has a wealthy, unparalleled historical past in motorsport, with Ferrari turning into a de facto nationwide workforce, it has not produced a world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953 nor a grand prix winner since Giancarlo Fisichella’s final success in 2006 with Renault.
“There’s much more hype round, after all, heading into subsequent season,” Antonelli stated. “Undoubtedly, you are feeling a little bit of accountability as a result of you understand you’ve received Italy behind you. Everybody expects me to achieve success, particularly as a result of I’ll be racing a Mercedes.
“Nevertheless it’s additionally actually thrilling. I can’t await subsequent 12 months to get began and likewise I can’t await my dwelling race at Imola. I might like to see so many Italians cheering.” The swathes of crimson for Ferrari that usually cowl the grandstands at Imola could be interspersed with Mercedes’ silver and black this 12 months.
At Imola, Monza and past, the adjustment to fame can be exhausting for Antonelli to actually put together for till it occurs. He’s already getting acknowledged much more. Followers stopped him each few steps as he walked by means of Milan Malpensa airport final 12 months off his flight from Heathrow; Antonelli graciously paused for selfies every time. He admitted it felt “a bit unusual” to start with, however he is aware of it’s a part of the job. “Whenever you get used to it, it’s regular.”
Antonelli, 18, and Bearman, 19, will be a part of the F1 grid this 12 months. (Joe Portlock / Getty Pictures)
Regular in F1, sure, however Antonelli continues to be a youngster — a part of F1’s new wave of expertise that has reworked the look and dramatically diminished the typical age of the grid for 2025. Away from racing, he enjoys taking part in padel (the passion of selection for a lot of the grid) and has already loved some spirited matches together with his new teammate, Russell. However he additionally likes to maintain sharp by go-karting and even doing sim racing together with his mates.
An endearing component of Antonelli’s rise final 12 months was his friendship together with his F2 teammate Ollie Bearman, who will even graduate to F1 this 12 months with Haas. Each racing for Prema, they made a number of enjoyable social media movies collectively and struck up a great relationship away from the monitor. It’s one thing Antonelli hopes could be of assist to them each as they make the leap to F1.
“He’s a fantastic man, he’s fast,” Antonelli stated of Bearman. “I’ve discovered quite a bit from him. I’m pleased to be sharing the grid with him subsequent 12 months. As a result of we’re going to be new subsequent 12 months, particularly initially, simply the actual fact we’ve recognized one another and we’ve been racing collectively, it is going to assist.”
In the case of dealing with the leap as much as F1, Antonelli will look to all of the assist he can get. Whereas he can be considered one of six full-season rookies on the F1 grid this 12 months, he and Purple Bull’s Liam Lawson, who already has 11 races to his identify, are possible to attract probably the most consideration for the actual fact they’re with front-running groups that received races final 12 months.
It makes the preparations for Antonelli all of the extra necessary. Mercedes will begin 2025 looking for the consistency it lacked for a lot of final 12 months. Russell will morph into the function of workforce chief following Hamilton’s departure, however for Antonelli, it’s all about getting the fundamentals proper and never letting the event over-awe him. “It’s going to be an enormous season forward,” Antonelli stated.
Now, together with his driver’s license, F1’s youngest driver is prepared for something.
(High photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Pictures)