Kimi Antonelli has been the subject of plenty of headlines since the Miami Grand Prix. That’s after it emerged that Williams had requested special dispensation to get him in the car early.
FIA superlicence rules would currently prevent the Mercedes academy driver from racing in F1 before his 18th birthday. That means he’d have to wait until at least the Dutch Grand Prix in late August.
This provision was introduced after Max Verstappen made his debut in the sport as a 17-year-old back in 2015. Verstappen himself isn’t ‘a fan’ of the current system and has called for change.
Senior F1 figures said there was ‘next to no chance’ of the FIA making an exception for Antonelli. But Logan Sargeant still seemed to be under extreme threat after the summer break.
Sargeant said after the news came out that he’s held talks with Williams over his future. He refused to confirm whether he’d received any assurances about being able to see out the season.
Antonelli has only completed three rounds in his first season racing in Formula 2. But he’s won four single-seater titles in the past two years, and Mercedes see him as the next Charles Leclerc.
Williams have only requested practice outing for Kimi Antonelli
Speaking on F1TV’s Weekend Warm-Up show, journalist Lawrence Barretto clarified the details of Williams’ request. Rather than pushing to get Antonelli in the car full-time until the end of the year, they actually just want him to drive in an FP1 session.
Teams are obliged to field a young driver in at least two practice sessions over the course of a season. Williams would be able to put Antonelli through his paces with a view to a possible seat in 2025.
The thinking here is that it could disrupt the teenager’s development if he’s parachuted into a team midway through the year. Williams have yet to score a point in 2024, so it’d be a difficult situation.
There remains a possibility that Antonelli makes his F1 debut with Mercedes. Toto Wolff has previously stated that he’s a contender to replace new Ferrari signing Lewis Hamilton.
All of this, of course, is good news for Sargeant. He may now have until the end of the year to try and save his Formula 1 career.
“Just as an aside, I’m actually hearing that it is for an FP1 that they’re going for that dispensation,” Barretto said. “They want to give him the whole year – both Williams and Merc, whoever gets their hands on him.
“Why ruin or risk ruining a talent by bringing him too early when you don’t actually need to? That gives Logan a little bit of respite to maybe try and find a reason to find for that seat a little bit longer.”
Kimi Antonelli has already produced ‘stunning’ feat in Mercedes test
Privately, Mercedes have been running the rule over Antonelli in a testing programme. He began in the constructors’ championship-winning 2021 car at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, but saw his running limited by adverse weather.
There were no such issues at Imola earlier this month as Antonelli set lap times similar to Lewis Hamilton in the 2022 car, albeit in different conditions. He also ‘surprised everyone’ with a medium-tyre run on day two.
It was a ‘stunning’ performance that caught the eye of Williams, according to F1 presenter Will Buxton. James Vowles has just tied Alex Albon down to a new contract and he may now look to pair him with one of the sport’s biggest upcoming talents.
Antonelli’s third test took him to Silverstone, where he was finally allowed to chase lap times ‘to his heart’s content’ on low fuel and soft compound tyres. Mercedes kept the results private.
That may be a sensible step, because as 1996 world champion Damon Hill says, Antonelli is already under significant pressure. Wolff will want to keep his feet on the ground as much as possible for the moment.
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