Kimi Antonelli has long been earmarked as the favourite to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season. A rookie could be the heir to the most successful driver in F1 history.
Antonelli is only 17 years old, and has just reached the halfway point of his first season in Formula 2. But Mercedes have been hugely impressed with how he’s performed in a private testing programme.
Under the regulations, the Italian is allowed to run in cars that are two or more years old. He drove the 2021 challenger at the Red Bull Ring, and then its immediate successor at Imola and Silverstone.
Those performances apparently won over the Mercedes board, who initially had doubts. They may also have attracted the attention of Williams, who are led by former Silver Arrows strategist James Vowles.
Vowles apparently lodged a request with the FIA to field Antonelli in an FP1 session before his 18th birthday in late August. The sport’s governing body have now changed the rule that prevented him from acquiring a superlicence.
It remains to be seen whether he gets a shot at Grove midway through the 2024 campaign. Williams could apparently make a decision on Logan Sargeant at the British Grand Prix next weekend.
Kimi Antonelli spends ‘a while’ in talks with Toto Wolff at Austrian Grand Prix
Writing on his X account, Motorsport.com Turkey journalist Kemal Sengul reported that Antonelli had held a lengthy meeting with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff after qualifying. It’s unclear if this relates to a potential 2025 announcement.
The Silver Arrows were reportedly ready to unveil him at the previous race in Spain. But they were first waiting for Carlos Sainz to be confirmed at Williams, and the Ferrari driver hesitated.
Still, there’s said to be a 99% chance that Antonelli gets the Mercedes seat at this point. It may be a matter of when rather than if.
The Italian has endured a difficult weekend thus far in F2. He finished down in 16th in the Sprint race, while teammate Oliver Bearman took Prema’s first victory of the season from second on the reversed grid.
“Kimi Antonelli and Toto Wolff met for a while at the Mercedes guesthouse,” Sengul wrote. “They are still together.”
Martin Brundle believes Mercedes still have Max Verstappen chance
If there’s only a 1% chance that Antonelli misses out on the Mercedes seat, then it may be the case that the Silver Arrows still have a shred of hope about signing Max Verstappen. The Dutchman appeared to confirm in Thursday’s press conference that he’d still be at Red Bull next year.
But Martin Brundle refuses to accept that things are ‘sewn up’ just yet. He says there’s a reason that Mercedes are still ‘hanging around’, rather than pushing the button on Antonelli.
Wolff has rejected any suggestion that he’s continued his pursuit of Verstappen as a pure distraction tactic. He called such claims ‘stupid’.
Intriguingly, Jos Verstappen was seen entering the Mercedes hospitality unit amid a fresh spat with Red Bull boss Christian Horner. The divisions at Milton Keynes may be about to widen.
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