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Who Is Kimi Antonelli? All About Mercedes’ New Driver Replacing Lewis Hamilton Alongside George Russell for 2025 Seat
Everything leads to Andrea Kimi Antonelli becoming George Russell's new teammate next year, including a slip of the tongue from Wolff.
![Kimi Antonelli [Credit-Instagram@kimi.antonelli]](https://www.pinkvilla.com/images/2024-08/346212251_kimi-antonelli-credit-instagram.jpg "Kimi Antonelli [Credit-Instagram@kimi.antonelli]")
Kimi Antonelli, a Mercedes prodigy, has been the buzz of the Formula One paddock this weekend in Miami, with some claiming his arrival is imminent and others saying there is no urgency. So what's the deal?
If you hadn't heard of Kimi Antonelli before the Miami Grand Prix weekend, you'd almost surely recognize him now.
In a nutshell, the Italian is the reigning Formula Regional European champion, funded by Mercedes, who did so well that he bypassed F3 to make his F2 (one step below F1) debut with Prema this season. He is widely regarded as one of today's most fascinating talents.
Along with his F2 duties, Mercedes has carefully designed a Formula 1 acclimatization program for Antonelli. This program began with a run in a 2021-spec Mercedes in Austria a few weeks ago (it was a two-day test that only yielded one day of running due to bad weather) and was followed by a run in the 2022 Mercedes at Imola. So far, things are going well for the Italian.
Who is Kimi Antonelli?
Kimi Antonelli was born on 25 August 2006. Antonelli is currently participating in the 2024 Formula 2 Championship for Prema Racing. During his career, Antonelli has won many single-seater championships, including the Italian F4 Championship and ADAC Formula 4 Championship with Prema, the 2023 Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Mumbai Falcons, and the 2023 Formula Regional European Championship with Prema. He has been with the Mercedes Junior Team since 2019.
Antonelli began karting at the age of seven and has won several championships in the sport. He has won the Easykart International Grand Final (Easy 60), South Garda Winter Cup, WSK Champions Cup, WSK Super Master Series, and WSK Euro Series, and was awarded the CIK-FIA Karting European Champion twice in succession in 2020 and 2021.
Kimi Antonelli joining Mercedes in 2025
Antonelli, who turns 18 on the day of the Dutch Grand Prix, is the main prospect to succeed Lewis Hamilton when the Briton leaves for Ferrari. However, nothing has been officially verified, despite Wolff's slip of the tongue at a media briefing at Circuit Zandvoort.
"The two drivers in our car next year have our full support. I want to make it work with George and Kimi," the Mercedes team principal told De Telegraaf. Wolff appears to have accidentally revealed the Formula One lineup for the 2025 season, although there has been no confirmation from Mercedes.
When asked by GPblog, Mercedes stated that the team principal was just speaking theoretically about backing the two F1 drivers next year, whoever they may be. Thus, Wolff would have simply answered questions regarding next year's drivers, mostly referred to in the media as 'George and Kimi.'
Several additional tests are scheduled throughout the year to provide the 17-year-old with as much mileage in F1 equipment as possible—similar to how Alpine offered Oscar Piastri thousands of testing km—to best prepare him for a move to F1 at some point.
Mercedes does not want to hurry Antonelli into Formula One, risking harming a talent who has been compared to Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at this point in his career.
However, everything altered when Hamilton informed Mercedes that he was departing a year sooner than expected to join Ferrari in 2025. This led the Silver Arrows to consider bringing Antonelli into F1 at least a year sooner than previously planned.
His father, Marco, is a former racing driver and the owner of the AKM Motorsport team that competes in the Italian F4 Championship. Antonelli shares his middle name with Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 Formula One World Champion, whose first name was given to him by a family friend, who wanted his kid to have a foreign name after 'Andrea.'
Antonelli attended ITCS Gaetano Salvemini in Casalecchio di Reno as a child and learned to speak English fluently when traveling to races. His father intended him to play football in Italy before introducing him to karting, but Antonelli showed a stronger interest in motorsports.
Also Read: When Did Lewis Hamilton Join F1? All You Need to Know
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